U.S. patent application number 12/721627 was filed with the patent office on 2010-08-12 for systems and methods for dynamic detection of anonymizing proxies.
Invention is credited to Gurusamy Sarathy.
Application Number | 20100205297 12/721627 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 42541292 |
Filed Date | 2010-08-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100205297 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Sarathy; Gurusamy |
August 12, 2010 |
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR DYNAMIC DETECTION OF ANONYMIZING
PROXIES
Abstract
In embodiments of the present invention, improved capabilities
are described for systems and methods that dynamically detect
uncategorized web-based proxy sites and translator sites. The
systems and methods may be directed at identifying a suspected
proxy site, intercepting a form submission intended to be submitted
to the suspected proxy site, submitting a probe in place of the
intercepted form submission to the suspected proxy site wherein the
probe is adapted to instruct a proxy site to direct communications
to a known probe site adapted to return predetermined information
as verification of interaction with the probe site, analyzing a
response to the submission of the probe for the presence of the
predetermined information, and upon detection of the presence of
the predetermined information in the analysis, categorizing the
suspected proxy site as a proxy site that is adapted to anonymize
internet behavior.
Inventors: |
Sarathy; Gurusamy;
(Vancouver, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
STRATEGIC PATENTS P.C..
C/O PORTFOLIOIP, P.O. BOX 52050
MINNEAPOLIS
MN
55402
US
|
Family ID: |
42541292 |
Appl. No.: |
12/721627 |
Filed: |
March 11, 2010 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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12369060 |
Feb 11, 2009 |
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12721627 |
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12369096 |
Feb 11, 2009 |
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12369060 |
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12369223 |
Feb 11, 2009 |
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12369096 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
709/224 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 63/101 20130101;
H04L 41/0893 20130101; H04L 63/0407 20130101; H04L 41/0853
20130101; H04L 63/0281 20130101; H04L 43/00 20130101; H04L 63/145
20130101; H04L 63/20 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/224 |
International
Class: |
G06F 15/16 20060101
G06F015/16 |
Claims
1. A computer program product embodied in a computer readable
medium that, when executing on one or more computers, performs the
steps of: identifying a suspected proxy site, wherein the suspected
proxy site is suspected of being adapted to anonymize internet
behavior; intercepting a form submission intended to be submitted
to the suspected proxy site; submitting a probe, in place of the
intercepted form submission, to the suspected proxy site, wherein
the probe is adapted to instruct a proxy site to direct
communications to a known probe site adapted to return
predetermined information as verification of interaction with the
probe site; analyzing a response to the submission of the probe for
the presence of the predetermined information; and upon detection
of the presence of the predetermined information in the analysis,
categorizing the suspected proxy site as a proxy site that is
adapted to anonymize internet behavior.
2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the step of
identifying the suspected proxy site involves identifying the
suspected proxy site through a client browser.
3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the step of
identifying the suspected proxy site involves identifying the
suspected proxy site through a client proxy.
4. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the step of
identifying the suspected proxy site involves identifying the
suspected proxy site at a proxy server.
5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the step of
intercepting further comprises holding the form submission in
abeyance until a confirmation is received that the suspected proxy
site is either not a proxy site or is a proxy site.
6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the probe is a
probe URL that identifies the probe site.
7. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the probe site
is a statically identified site.
8. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the probe site
is a dynamically changing site and the probe is generated to remain
adapted to identify the dynamically changing site.
9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the probe site
is an anonymized site adapted to conceal its identity from proxy
sites.
10. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the
predetermined information is a predetermined hash value.
11. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the
predetermined information is predetermined information that is
designed to uniquely identify the probe site.
12. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the
predetermined information is a URL relating to the probe site.
13. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:
blacklisting the proxy site in response to the categorization.
14. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:
performing a remedial action in response to the categorization.
15. The computer program product of claim 1, further comprising:
tracking a user's behaviors in response to the categorization.
16. A computer program product embodied in a computer readable
medium that, when executing on one or more computers, performs the
steps of: identifying a suspected proxy site wherein the suspected
proxy site is suspected of being adapted to anonymize internet
behavior; intercepting a form submission intended to be submitted
to the suspected proxy site; submitting a probe, in place of the
intercepted form submission, to the suspected proxy site, wherein
the probe is adapted to instruct a proxy site to direct
communications to a known probe site adapted to return
predetermined information as verification of interaction with the
probe site, the probe further comprising a text string; analyzing a
response to the submission of the probe for the presence of the
predetermined information and the text string; and upon detection
of the presence of the predetermined information and an altered
text string, wherein the altered text string is a representation of
the text string that has been altered through a translation engine,
categorizing the suspected proxy site as a translation proxy
site.
17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the
predetermined information is predetermined information that is
designed to uniquely identify the probe site.
18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the probe
site is an anonymized site adapted to conceal its identity from
proxy sites.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of the following
U.S. patent applications, each of which is hereby incorporated by
reference in its entirety: U.S. patent application Ser. No.
12/369,060 filed Feb. 11, 2009; U.S. patent application Ser. No.
12/369,096 filed Feb. 11, 2009; and U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 12/369,223 filed Feb. 11, 2009.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Proxy servers can enable indirect communications between
network participants. Proxy servers can modify these communications
so as to insert content, remove content, obscure a sender or
receiver of the communications, and so on.
[0003] Security policies, administrative policies, and the like may
be directed at limiting access to certain websites or network
content.
[0004] Sites that host anonymizing proxies are increasingly
allowing children and employees to bypass controls over web
surfing. Since these anonymizers may look like any other web site,
reputation-based blocking and categorization may fail when surfing
via one of these proxies. There are organized groups running
massive numbers of proxies with the business goal of driving
advertising revenue by stripping/reattaching custom advertising
content to the sites that are browsed through such a service, such
as social networking sites and the like. Many such proxies also
host adware, spyware, malware, and the like.
[0005] Existing approaches to anonymizing proxy detection may be
reactive, and rely on blacklisting the URL of the anonymizing
proxy. This solution may be inadequate, as there are a large number
of blogs, mailing lists, and the like that reveal a fresh supply of
new proxy sites with different domain names on a day-to-day basis.
There exists a need for systems and methods that enforce policies
with respect to proxy communications and dynamically detect
proxying behavior in a proactive manner.
SUMMARY
[0006] Embodiments of the present invention include systems and
methods that enforce policies with respect to proxy communications.
In embodiments, the present invention may be a computer program
product embodied in a computer readable medium that, when executing
on one or more computers, enforces policies with respect to proxy
communications. The invention provides a method to determine, in
real time, offline (i.e. in a lab where analysis is performed), or
at other period, if a website to which a request is being sent is
behaving as a proxy for accessing content from other websites, and
if so determined, to prevent such request traffic. The method also
provides other attributes to track further traffic that might
originate from the proxy site.
[0007] In one aspect, a method and computer program product for
identifying a proxy website that is disclosed herein includes
analyzing website content that is retrieved based on a website
request, wherein the analysis involves looking for patterns within
the website content that are similar to patterns found in a known
non-proxy website's content; in response to finding a similar
pattern between the requested website and the known non-proxy
website, comparing the requested website's identifier with an
identifier of the known non-proxy website; and in response to
finding a mismatch between the two website identifiers,
categorizing at least a portion of the requested website's
identifier as a suspected proxy website identifier. The known
non-proxy website may be one of a plurality of known non-proxy
websites that have been predetermined as known non-proxy websites.
Signature content from the plurality of known non-proxy websites
may be stored in a database and the analysis involves retrieving
the signature content and comparing the signature content to
content derived from the retrieved website. The signature content
may be prioritized based on the non-proxy websites popularity such
that more popular signature content is used in the analysis before
less popular content. The step of analyzing the website content
that may be retrieved based on the website request further
comprises analyzing a plurality of content, retrieved based on a
plurality of requests made by the requested website, for a
significant number of content portions that include patterns
matching the known non-proxy website. The step of categorizing at
least a portion of the requested website's identifier as a suspect
proxy website identifier may involve determining a longest common
portion of URLs requested by the requested website and categorizing
the longest common portion as indicative of a proxy website. The
step of looking for patterns within the website content that may be
similar to patterns found in the known non-proxy website's content
involves comparing text associated with the two websites for
similarities. The step of looking for patterns within the website
content that may be similar to patterns found in the known
non-proxy website's content involves comparing copyright messages
associated with the two websites for similarities. The step of
looking for patterns within the website content that may be similar
to patterns found in the known non-proxy website's content involves
comparing comments within HTML associated with the two websites for
similarities. The step of looking for patterns within the website
content that may be similar to patterns found in the known
non-proxy website's content involves comparing class names
associated with the two websites for similarities. The step of
looking for patterns within the website content that may be similar
to patterns found in the known non-proxy website's content involves
comparing script components associated with the two websites for
similarities. The step of looking for patterns within the website
content that may be similar to patterns found in the known
non-proxy website's content involves comparing images associated
with the two websites for similarities. The step of looking for
patterns within the website content that may be similar to patterns
found in the known non-proxy website's content involves comparing
links associated with the two websites for similarities. The step
of looking for patterns within the website content that may be
similar to patterns found in the known non-proxy website's content
involves comparing style elements associated with the two websites
for similarities. The step of looking for patterns within the
website content that may be similar to patterns found in the known
non-proxy website's content involves comparing client side
executable content associated with the two websites for
similarities. The step of looking for patterns within the website
content that may be similar to patterns found in the known
non-proxy website's content involves comparing elements within HTTP
headers returned by a server associated with the two websites for
similarities.
[0008] In one aspect, a method of identifying a proxy website that
is disclosed herein includes analyzing website content that is
retrieved based on a website request, wherein the analysis involves
looking for patterns within the website content that are similar to
patterns found in a known non-proxy website's content, wherein the
patterns are characterized as checksums; in response to finding a
similar pattern between the requested website and the known
non-proxy website, comparing the requested website's identifier
with an identifier of the known non-proxy website; and in response
to finding a mismatch between the two website identifiers,
categorizing at least a portion of the requested website's
identifier as a suspected proxy website identifier.
[0009] In one aspect, a method of identifying a proxy website that
is disclosed herein includes intercepting a website request;
analyzing website content that is retrieved based on the website
request, wherein the analysis involves looking for patterns within
the website content that are similar to patterns found in a known
non-proxy website's content; in response to finding a similar
pattern between the requested website and the known non-proxy
website, comparing the requested website's identifier with an
identifier of the known non-proxy website; and in response to
finding a mismatch between the two website identifiers, blocking a
requestor that initiated the website request from interacting with
the requested website.
[0010] In one aspect, a method of identifying a proxy website that
is disclosed herein includes intercepting a website request;
analyzing website content that is retrieved based on the website
request, wherein the analysis involves looking for patterns within
the website content that are similar to patterns found in a known
non-proxy website's content; in response to finding a similar
pattern between the requested website and the known non-proxy
website, comparing the requested website's identifier with an
identifier of the known non-proxy website; in response to finding a
mismatch between the two website identifiers, analyzing the
requested website content for patterns matching a known proxy
website; and blocking a requestor that initiated the website
request from interacting with the requested website.
[0011] In one aspect, a method of identifying and categorizing
proxy websites that is disclosed herein includes crawling the web
to identify a target website; analyzing website content associated
with the target website, wherein the analysis involves looking for
patterns within the website content that are similar to patterns
found in a known non-proxy website's content; in response to
finding a similar pattern between the requested website and the
known non-proxy website, comparing the requested website's
identifier with an identifier of the known non-proxy website; and
in response to finding a mismatch between the two website
identifiers, categorizing at least a portion of the requested
website's identifier as a suspected proxy website identifier and
storing the at least a portion of the requested website's
identifier in a database.
[0012] In one aspect, a method of identifying a proxy website that
is disclosed herein includes analyzing website content that is
retrieved based on a website request, wherein the analysis involves
looking for patterns within the website content that are similar to
patterns found in a known proxy website's content, wherein the
patterns are characterized as checksums; and in response to finding
a similar checksum between a portion of the requested website and a
portion of the known proxy website, determining that portion of the
requested website as suspicious.
[0013] In one aspect, a method and computer program product that is
disclosed herein includes intercepting a universal resource locator
(URL) request from a client computing facility; interpreting terms
in the URL to identify that the URL was produced by a search engine
in response to a search; and interpreting the terms in the URL to
identify that the search was directed towards locating a blocked
category of website. The category of blocked website may be a proxy
site. The category of blocked website may be an adult site
category. The category of blocked website may be a blocked
category. The category of blocked website may be an allowed
category. The category of blocked website may be a safe category.
The category of blocked website may be a suspicious category. The
category of blocked website may be a gaming category. The category
of blocked website may be a social networking category. The
category of blocked website may be a job search category. The
category of blocked website may be an ecommerce category.
[0014] In one aspect, a method that is disclosed herein includes
intercepting a universal resource locator (URL) request from a
client computing facility; interpreting characters in the URL to
identify that the URL was produced by a search engine in response
to a search; and interpreting the characters in the URL to identify
that the search was directed towards locating a blocked category of
website.
[0015] In one aspect, a method that is disclosed herein includes
intercepting a universal resource locator (URL) request from a
client computing facility; interpreting terms in the URL to
identify that the URL was produced by a search engine in response
to a search; and interpreting the terms in the URL to identify that
the search was directed towards locating a blocked website.
[0016] In one aspect, a method of blocking proxy website
interactions that is disclosed herein includes intercepting a
universal resource locator (URL) request from a client computing
facility; analyzing the characters that comprise the URL; and in
response to a finding that the URL was produced by a search engine
software program and directed to a search request for a proxy site,
blocking access to search results based on the URL. The step of
analyzing the characters that may include the URL involves
detecting keywords in the URL and comparing the keywords to a
database of suspicious keywords to find a match. The step of
analyzing the characters that may include the URL involves
detecting strings of characters that match a string of characters
typical of a search engine. The step of analyzing the characters
that may include the URL involves detecting strings of characters
that match a string of characters typical of a proxy website
identification search. The step of analyzing the characters that
may include the URL involves detecting regular expressions that
match a regular expression typical of a search engine. The regular
expression may involve prefix matching. The regular expression may
involve suffix matching. The regular expression may involve
wildcard matching. The regular expression may involve substitution
matching. The step of analyzing the characters that may include the
URL is performed on the client computing facility. The step of
analyzing the characters that may include the URL is performed on a
network resource associated with the client computing facility.
[0017] In one aspect, a method of blocking proxy website
interactions that is disclosed herein includes intercepting a
universal resource locator (URL) request from a client computing
facility; analyzing the characters that comprise the URL; in
response to a finding that the URL was produced by a search engine
software program and directed to a search request for a proxy site,
allowing access to the search results based on the URL; and
identifying the access to the search results based on the URL to a
systems administrator for further analysis.
[0018] In one aspect, a method and computer program product that is
disclosed herein includes intercepting a website connection
request; analyzing a requested website associated with the website
connection request for operator identification information;
associating the operator information with an entity that operates a
known website; and categorizing the requested website as a same
category as the known website. The same category may be a proxy
site category. The same category may be an adult site category. The
same category may be a blocked category. The same category may be
an allowed category. The same category may be a safe category. The
same category may be a suspicious category. The same category may
be a gaming category. The same category may be a social networking
category. The same category may be a job search category. The same
category may be an ecommerce category.
[0019] In one aspect, a method that is disclosed herein includes
intercepting a website connection request; analyzing a website
associated with the website connection request for operator
identification information; and associating the operator
information with an entity that operates a known proxy website.
[0020] In one aspect, a method of blocking a proxy website
interaction that is disclosed herein includes intercepting a
website connection request; analyzing a website associated with the
website connection request for customer advertisement
identification information; associating the customer advertisement
identification information with an entity that operates a known
proxy website; and blocking the website connection request.
[0021] In one aspect, a method of identifying a proxy website that
is disclosed herein includes intercepting a website connection
request; analyzing a website associated with the website connection
request for customer advertisement identification information;
associating the customer advertisement identification information
with an entity that operates a known proxy website; and identifying
the website as a proxy website.
[0022] In one aspect, a method that is disclosed herein includes
identifying an advertisement identifier as potentially being owned
by a proxy site operator; analyzing a website for the presence of
the advertisement identifier; in response to identifying the
advertisement identifier as associated with the website, inferring
that the website is a proxy site.
[0023] In one aspect, a method of identifying a proxy website that
is disclosed herein includes intercepting a website connection
request; analyzing a website associated with the website connection
request for customer advertisement identification information;
associating the customer advertisement identification information
with an entity that operates a known proxy website; and identifying
the website as a suspected proxy website.
[0024] In one aspect, a method of identifying a proxy website that
is disclosed herein includes intercepting a website connection
request; analyzing a website associated with the website connection
request for customer advertisement identification information;
associating the customer advertisement identification information
with an entity that operates a known proxy website; analyzing the
website for suspicious content indicative of a potential proxy
site; and in response to the identification of the entity that
operates a known proxy site and an identification of the suspicious
content, identifying the website as a proxy website.
[0025] In one aspect, a method of identifying an operator of a
website that is disclosed herein includes analyzing a plurality of
websites for customer advertisement identification information;
identifying customer advertisement identification information for
each of the plurality of websites; and grouping into subsets of the
plurality of websites by common customer advertisement
identification information. The method of identifying an operator
of a website may include The particular type of website may be a
proxy website. The particular type of website may be a website
known for producing malware. The particular type of website may be
an adult website. The particular type of website may be a gaming
website. The particular type of website may be a social networking
website.
[0026] In an aspect of the invention, a computer program product
embodied in a computer readable medium that, when executing on one
or more computers, may perform the steps of: identifying a
suspected proxy site, wherein the suspected proxy site is suspected
of being adapted to anonymize internet behavior, intercepting a
form submission intended to be submitted to the suspected proxy
site, submitting a probe, in place of the intercepted form
submission, to the suspected proxy site, wherein the probe is
adapted to instruct a proxy site to direct communications to a
known probe site adapted to return predetermined information as
verification of interaction with the probe site, analyzing a
response to the submission of the probe for the presence of the
predetermined information, and upon detection of the presence of
the predetermined information in the analysis, categorizing the
suspected proxy site as a proxy site that is adapted to anonymize
internet behavior. The step of identifying the suspected proxy site
may involve identifying the suspected proxy site through a client
browser. The step of identifying the suspected proxy site may
involve identifying the suspected proxy site through a client
proxy. The step of identifying the suspected proxy site may involve
identifying the suspected proxy site at a proxy server. The step of
intercepting further comprises holding the form submission in
abeyance until a confirmation is received that the suspected proxy
site is either not a proxy site or is a proxy site. The probe may
be a probe URL that identifies the probe site. The probe may be a
probe IP address that identifies the probe site. The probe site may
be a statically identified site. The probe site may be a
dynamically changing site and the probe is generated to remain
adapted to identify the dynamically changing site. The probe site
may be an anonymized site adapted to conceal its identity from
proxy sites. The predetermined information may be a predetermined
hash value. The predetermined information may be predetermined
information that is designed to uniquely identify the probe site.
The predetermined information may be a URL relating to the probe
site. The predetermined information may be an IP address relating
to the probe site. The computer program product may further perform
the step of blacklisting the proxy site in response to the
categorization. The computer program product may further perform
the step of performing a remedial action in response to the
categorization. The computer program product may further perform
the step of tracking a user's behaviors in response to the
categorization.
[0027] In an aspect of the invention, a computer program product
embodied in a computer readable medium that, when executing on one
or more computers, may perform the steps of identifying a suspected
proxy site wherein the suspected proxy site is suspected of being
adapted to anonymize internet behavior, intercepting a form
submission intended to be submitted to the suspected proxy site,
submitting a probe, in place of the intercepted form submission, to
the suspected proxy site, wherein the probe is adapted to instruct
a proxy site to direct communications to a known probe site adapted
to return predetermined information as verification of interaction
with the probe site, the probe further comprising a text string,
analyzing a response to the submission of the probe for the
presence of the predetermined information and the text string, and
upon detection of the presence of the predetermined information and
an altered text string, wherein the altered text string is a
representation of the text string that has been altered through a
translation engine, categorizing the suspected proxy site as a
translation proxy site. The predetermined information may be
predetermined information that is designed to uniquely identify the
probe site. The probe site may be an anonymized site adapted to
conceal its identity from proxy sites.
[0028] These and other systems, methods, objects, features, and
advantages of the present invention will be apparent to those
skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the
preferred embodiment and the drawings. All documents mentioned
herein are hereby incorporated in their entirety by reference.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[0029] The invention and the following detailed description of
certain embodiments thereof may be understood by reference to the
following figures:
[0030] FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a threat management
facility providing protection to an enterprise against a plurality
of threats.
[0031] FIG. 2 depicts a method for enforcing a policy that
prohibits communications from a proxy server.
[0032] FIG. 3 depicts a method of detecting proxies.
[0033] FIG. 4 depicts a method of detecting proxies.
[0034] FIG. 5 depicts a method of detecting proxies and suspected
phishing sites.
[0035] FIG. 6 depicts a method of selectively blocking access to a
search engine.
[0036] FIG. 7 depicts a process for detecting uncategorized
web-based proxy sites.
[0037] FIG. 8 depicts a system for detecting uncategorized
web-based proxy sites.
[0038] FIG. 9 depicts a flow diagram for a method for detecting
uncategorized web-based proxy sites.
[0039] FIG. 10 depicts a flow diagram for a method for detecting
uncategorized web-based proxy sites and translator sites.
[0040] While the invention has been described in connection with
certain preferred embodiments, other embodiments would be
understood by one of ordinary skill in the art and are encompassed
herein.
[0041] All documents referenced herein are hereby incorporated by
reference.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0042] FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of a threat management
facility providing protection to an enterprise against a plurality
of threats. An aspect of the present invention relates to corporate
policy management and their implementation through a unified threat
management facility 100. As will be explained in more detail below,
a threat management facility 100 is used to protect computer assets
from many threats, both computer generated threats and user
generated threats. The threat management facility 100 is
multi-dimensional in that it is designed to protect corporate
assets from a variety of threats and it is adapted to learn about
threats in one dimension (e.g. worm detection) and apply the
knowledge in another dimension (e.g. spam detection). Corporate
policy management is one of the dimensions for which the threat
management facility can control. The corporation may institute a
policy that prevents certain people (e.g. employees, groups of
employees, types of employees, guest of the corporation, etc.) from
accessing certain types of computer programs. For example, the
corporation may elect to prevent its accounting department from
using a particular version of an instant messaging service or all
such services. In this example, the policy management facility 112
may be used to update the policies of all corporate computing
assets with a proper policy control facility or it may update a
select few. By using the threat management facility 100 to
facilitate the setting, updating and control of such policies the
corporation only needs to be concerned with keeping the threat
management facility 100 up to date on such policies. The threat
management facility 100 can take care of updating all of the other
corporate computing assets.
[0043] It should be understood that the threat management facility
100 may provide multiple services and policy management may be
offered as one of the services. We will now turn to a description
of the threat management system 100
[0044] Over recent years, malware has become a major problem across
the internet 154. From both technical and user perspectives the
categorization of a specific threat type, such as whether it is a
virus, worm, spam, phishing exploration, spyware, adware, or the
like, is becoming reduced in significance. The threat, no matter
how it's categorized, may need to be stopped at all points of the
enterprise facility 102, including laptop, desktop, server facility
142, gateway, and the like. Similarly, there may be less and less
benefit to the user in having different solutions for known and
unknown threats. As such, a consolidated threat management facility
100 may need to be applied to the same set of technologies and
capabilities for all threats. The threat management facility 100
may provide a single agent on the desktop, and a single scan of any
suspect file. This approach may eliminate the inevitable overlaps
and gaps in protection caused by treating viruses and spyware as
separate problems, while simultaneously simplifying administration
and minimizing desktop load. As the number and range of types of
threats has increased, so may have the level of connectivity
available to all IT users. This may have lead to a rapid increase
in the speed at which threats may move. Today, an unprotected PC
connected to the internet 154 may be infected quickly, say within
10 minutes, which may require acceleration for the delivery of
threat protection. Where once, monthly updates may have been
sufficient, the threat management facility 100 may automatically
and seamlessly update its product set against spam and virus
threats quickly, for instance, every five minutes, every minute,
continuously, or the like. Analysis and testing may be increasingly
automated, and also may be performed more frequently; for instance,
it may be completed in 15 minutes, and may do so without
compromising quality. The threat management facility 100 may also
extend techniques that may have been developed for virus and
malware protection, and provide them to enterprise facility 102
network administrators to better control their environments. In
addition to stopping malicious code, the threat management facility
100 may provide policy management that may be able to control
legitimate applications, such as VoIP, instant messaging,
peer-to-peer file-sharing, and the like, that may undermine
productivity and network performance within the enterprise facility
102.
[0045] The threat management facility 100 may provide an enterprise
facility 102 protection from computer-based malware, including
viruses, spyware, adware, Trojans, intrusion, spam, policy abuse,
uncontrolled access, and the like, where the enterprise facility
102 may be any entity with a networked computer-based
infrastructure. In an embodiment, FIG. 1 may depict a block diagram
of the threat management facility providing protection to an
enterprise against a plurality of threats. The enterprise facility
102 may be corporate, commercial, educational, governmental, or the
like, and the enterprise facility's 102 computer network may be
distributed amongst a plurality of facilities, and in a plurality
of geographical locations. The threat management facility 100 may
include a plurality of functions, such as security management
facility 122, policy management facility 112, update facility 120,
definitions facility 114, network access rules facility 124,
remedial action facility 128, detection techniques facility 130,
testing facility 118, threat research facility 132, and the like.
In embodiments, the threat protection provided by the threat
management facility 100 may extend beyond the network boundaries of
the enterprise facility 102 to include enterprise facility 102
client facility's 144 that have moved into network connectivity not
directly associated or controlled by the enterprise facility 102.
Threats to enterprise facility 102 client facilities 144 may come
from a plurality of sources, such as from network threats 104,
physical proximity threats 110, secondary location threats 108, and
the like. In embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may
provide an enterprise facility 102 protection from a plurality of
threats to multiplatform computer resources in a plurality of
locations and network configurations, with an integrated system
approach.
[0046] In embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may be
provided as a stand-alone solution. In other embodiments, the
threat management facility 100 may be integrated into a third-party
product. An application programming interface (e.g. a source code
interface) may be provided such that the threat management facility
100 may be integrated. For instance, the threat management facility
100 may be stand-alone in that it provides direct threat protection
to an enterprise or computer resource, where protection is
subscribed to directly with the threat management facility 100.
Alternatively, the threat management facility may offer protection
indirectly, through a third-party product, where an enterprise may
subscribe to services through the third-party product, and threat
protection to the enterprise may be provided by the threat
management facility 100 through the third-party product.
[0047] The security management facility 122 may include a plurality
of elements that provide protection from malware to enterprise
facility 102 computer resources, including endpoint security and
control, email security and control, web security and control,
reputation-based filtering, control of unauthorized users, control
of guest and non-compliant computers, and the like. The security
management facility 122 may be a software application that may
provide malicious code and malicious application protection to a
client facility 144 computing resource. The security management
facility 122 may have the ability to scan the client facility 144
files for malicious code, remove or quarantine certain applications
and files, prevent certain actions, perform remedial actions and
perform other security measures. In embodiments, scanning the
client facility 144 may include scanning some or all of the files
stored to the client facility 144 on a periodic basis, may scan
applications once the application has been requested to execute,
may scan files as the files are transmitted to or from the client
facility 144, or the like. The scanning of the applications and
files may be to detect known malicious code or known unwanted
applications. In an embodiment, new malicious code and unwanted
applications may be continually developed and distributed, and
updates to the known code database may be provided on a periodic
basis, on a demand basis, on an alert basis, or the like.
[0048] In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may
provide for email security and control, where security management
may help to eliminate spam, viruses, spyware and phishing, control
of email content, and the like. The security management facilities
122 email security and control may protect against inbound and
outbound threats, protect email infrastructure, prevent data
leakage, provide spam filtering, and the like. In an embodiment,
security management facility 122 may provide for web security and
control, where security management may help to detect or block
viruses, spyware, malware, unwanted applications, help control web
browsing, and the like, which may provide comprehensive web access
control enabling safe, productive web browsing. Web security and
control may provide internet use policies, reporting on suspect
devices, security and content filtering, active monitoring of
network traffic, URL filtering, and the like. In an embodiment, the
security management facility 122 may provide for network access
control, which may provide control over network connections.
Network control may stop unauthorized, guest, or non-compliant
systems from accessing networks, and may control network traffic
that may not be bypassed from the client level. In addition,
network access control may control access to virtual private
networks (VPN), where VPNs may be a communications network tunneled
through another network, establishing a logical connection acting
as a virtual network. In embodiments, a VPN may be treated in the
same manner as a physical network.
[0049] In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may
provide for host intrusion prevention through behavioral based
protection, which may guard against unknown threats by analyzing
behavior before software code executes. Behavioral based protection
may monitor code when it runs and intervene if the code is deemed
to be suspicious or malicious. Advantages of behavioral based
protection over runtime protection may include code being prevented
from running, whereas runtime protection may only interrupt code
that has already partly executed; behavioral protection may
identify malicious code at the gateway or on the file servers and
deletes it before reaching end-point computers and the like.
[0050] In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may
provide for reputation filtering, which may target or identify
sources of known malware. For instance, reputation filtering may
include lists of URLs of known sources of malware or known
suspicious IP addresses, or domains, say for spam, that when
detected may invoke an action by the threat management facility
100, such as dropping them immediately. By dropping the source
before any interaction can initiate, potential threat sources may
be thwarted before any exchange of data can be made.
[0051] In embodiments, information may be sent from the enterprise
back to a third party, a vendor, or the like, which may lead to
improved performance of the threat management facility 100. For
example, the types, times, and number of virus interactions that a
client experiences may provide useful information for the
preventions of future virus threats. This type of feedback may be
useful for any aspect of threat detection. Feedback of information
may also be associated with behaviors of individuals within the
enterprise, such as being associated with most common violations of
policy, network access, unauthorized application loading,
unauthorized external device use, and the like. In embodiments,
this type of information feedback may enable the evaluation or
profiling of client actions that are violations of policy that may
provide a predictive model for the improvement of enterprise
policies.
[0052] In an embodiment, the security management facility 122 may
provide for the overall security of the enterprise facility 102
network or set of enterprise facility 102 networks, may provide
updates of malicious code information to the enterprise facility
102 network, and associated client facilities 144. The updates may
be a planned update, an update in reaction to a threat notice, an
update in reaction to a request for an update, an update based on a
search of known malicious code information, or the like. The
administration facility 134 may provide control over the security
management facility 122 when updates are performed. The updates may
be automatically transmitted without an administration facility's
134 direct control, manually transmitted by the administration
facility 134, or the like. The security management facility 122 may
include the management of receiving malicious code descriptions
from a provider, distribution of malicious code descriptions to
enterprise facility 102 networks, distribution of malicious code
descriptions to client facilities 144, or the like. In an
embodiment, the management of malicious code information may be
provided to the enterprise facility's 102 network, where the
enterprise facility's 102 network may provide the malicious code
information through the enterprise facility's 102 network
distribution system.
[0053] The threat management facility 100 may provide policy
management facility 112 that may be able to block non-malicious
applications, such as VoIP 164, instant messaging 162, peer-to-peer
file-sharing, and the like, that may undermine productivity and
network performance within the enterprise facility 102. The policy
management facility 112 may be a set of rules or policies that may
indicate enterprise facility 102 access permissions for the client
facility 144, such as access permissions associated with the
network, applications, external computer devices, and the like. The
policy management facility 112 may include a database, a text file,
a combination of databases and text files, or the like. In an
embodiment, a policy database may be a block list, a black list, an
allowed list, a white list, or the like that may provide a list of
enterprise facility 102 external network locations/applications
that may or may not be accessed by the client facility 144. The
policy management facility 112 may include rules that may be
interpreted with respect to an enterprise facility 102 network
access request to determine if the request should be allowed. The
rules may provide a generic rule for the type of access that may be
granted; the rules may be related to the policies of an enterprise
facility 102 for access rights for the enterprise facility's 102
client facility 144. For example, there may be a rule that does not
permit access to sporting websites. When a website is requested by
the client facility 144, a security facility may access the rules
within a policy facility to determine if the requested access is
related to a sporting website. In an embodiment, the security
facility may analyze the requested website to determine if the
website matches with any of the policy facility rules.
[0054] The policy management facility 112 may be similar to the
security management facility 122 but with the distribution of
enterprise facility 102 wide access rules and policies that may
maintain control of the access of client facility 144 to enterprise
facility 102 network resources. The policies may be defined for
application type, subset of application capabilities, organization
hierarchy, computer facility type, user type, network location,
time of day, connection type, or the like. Policies may be
maintained by the administration facility 134, through the threat
management facility 100, in association with a third party, or the
like. For example, a policy may restrict IM 162 activity to only
support personnel for communicating with customers. This may allow
communication for departments requiring access, but may maintain
the network bandwidth for other activities by restricting the use
of IM 162 to only the personnel that need access to IM 162 in
support of the enterprise facility 102. In an embodiment, the
policy management facility 112 may be a standalone application, may
be part of the policy management facility 112, network server
facility 142, may be part of the enterprise facility 102 network,
may be part of the client facility 144, or the like.
[0055] In embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may
provide configuration management, which may be similar to policy
management, but may specifically examine the configuration set of
applications, operating systems, hardware, and the like, and
managing changes to their configurations. Assessment of a
configuration may be made against a standard configuration policy,
detection of configuration changes, remediation of improper
configuration, application of new configurations, and the like. An
enterprise may keep a set of standard configuration rules and
policies which may represent the desired state of the device. For
example, a client firewall may be running and installed, but in the
disabled state, where remediation may be to enable the firewall. In
another example, the enterprise may set a rule that disallows the
use of USB disks, and sends a configuration change to all clients,
which turns off USB drive access via a registry.
[0056] In embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may also
provide for the removal of applications that may interfere with the
operation of the threat management facility 100, such as competitor
products that may also be attempting similar threat management
functions. The removal of such products may be initiated
automatically whenever such products are detected. In the case
where such applications are services are provided indirectly
through a third-party product, the application may be suspended
until action is taken to remove or disable the third-party
product's protection facility.
[0057] Threat management against a sometimes quickly evolving
malware environment may require timely updates, and the update
management facility 120 may be provided by the threat management
facility 100. In addition, a policy management facility 112 may
also require update management (e.g. as provided by the update
facility 120 herein described), as the enterprise facility 102
requirements for policies change enterprise facility 102, client
facility 144, server facility 142 enterprise facility 102. The
update management for the security facility 122 and policy
management facility 112 may be provided directly by the threat
management facility 100, such as by a hosted system or in
conjunction with the administration facility 134. In embodiments,
the threat management facility 100 may provide for patch
management, where a patch may be an update to an operating system,
an application, a system tool, or the like, where one of the
reasons for the patch is to reduce vulnerability to threats.
[0058] In embodiments, the security facility 122 and policy
management facility 112 may push information to the enterprise
facility 102 network and/or client facility 144, the enterprise
facility 102 network and/or client facility 144 may pull
information from the security facility 122 and policy management
facility 112 network server facilities 142, there may be a
combination of pushing and pulling of information between the
security facility 122 and the policy management facility 112
network servers 142, enterprise facility 102 network, and client
facilities 144, or the like. For example, the enterprise facility
102 network and/or client facility 144 may pull information from
the security facility 122 and policy management facility 112
network server facility 142 may request the information using the
security facility 122 and policy management facility 112 update
module; the request may be based on a certain time period, by a
certain time, by a date, on demand, or the like. In another
example, the security facility 122 and policy management facility
112 network servers 142 may push the information to the enterprise
facility's 102 network and/or client facility 144 by providing
notification that there are updates available for download and then
transmitting the information. The combination of the security
management 122 network server facility 142 and security update
module may function substantially the same as the policy management
facility 112 network server and policy update module by providing
information to the enterprise facility 102 network and the client
facility 144 in a push or pull method. In an embodiment, the policy
management facility 112 and the security facility 122 management
update modules may work in concert to provide all the needed
information to the enterprise facility's 102 network and/or client
facility 144 for control of application execution. In an
embodiment, the policy update module and security update module may
be combined into a single update module.
[0059] As threats are identified and characterized, the threat
management facility 100 may create definition updates that may be
used to allow the threat management facility 100 to detect and
remediate the latest malicious software, unwanted applications,
configuration and policy changes, and the like. The threat
definition facility 114 may contain threat identification updates,
also referred to as definition files. A definition file may be a
virus identity file that may include definitions of known or
potential malicious code. The IDE definition files may provide
information that may identify malicious code within files,
applications, or the like. The definition files may be accessed by
security management facility 122 when scanning files or
applications within the client facility 144 for the determination
of malicious code that may be within the file or application. The
definition files may contain a number of commands, definitions, or
instructions, to be parsed and acted upon, or the like. In
embodiments, the client facility 144 may be updated with new
definition files periodically to provide the client facility 144
with the most recent malicious code definitions; the updating may
be performed on a set time period, may be updated on demand from
the client facility 144, may be updated on demand from the network,
may be updated on a received malicious code alert, or the like. In
an embodiment, the client facility 144 may request an update to the
definition files from an update facility 120 within the network,
may request updated definition files from a computing facility
external to the network, updated definition files may be provided
to the client facility 114 from within the network, definition
files may be provided to the client facility 144 from an external
computing facility from an external network, or the like.
[0060] In an embodiment, a definition management facility 114 may
provide for the timely updates of definition files information to
the network, client facilities 144, and the like. New and altered
malicious code and malicious applications may be continually
created and distributed to networks worldwide. The definition files
that maintain the definitions of the malicious code and malicious
application information for the protection of the networks and
client facilities 144 may need continual updating to provide
continual defense of the network and client facility 144 from the
malicious code and malicious applications. The definition files
management may provide for automatic and manual methods of updating
the definition files. In embodiments, the network may receive
definition files and distribute the definition files to the network
client facilities 144, the client facilities 144 may receive the
definition files directly, or the network and client facilities 144
may both receive the definition files, or the like. In an
embodiment, the definition files may be updated on a fixed periodic
basis, on demand by the network and/or the client facility 144, as
a result of an alert of a new malicious code or malicious
application, or the like. In an embodiment, the definition files
may be released as a supplemental file to an existing definition
files to provide for rapid updating of the definition files.
[0061] In a similar manner, the security management facility 122
may be used to scan an outgoing file and verify that the outgoing
file is permitted to be transmitted per the enterprise facility 102
rules and policies. By checking outgoing files, the security
management facility 122 may be able discover malicious code
infected files that were not detected as incoming files as a result
of the client facility 144 having been updated with either new
definition files or policy management facility 112 information. The
definition files may discover the malicious code infected file by
having received updates of developing malicious code from the
administration facility 134, updates from a definition files
provider, or the like. The policy management facility 112 may
discover the malicious code infected file by having received new
updates from the administration facility 134, from a rules
provider, or the like.
[0062] The threat management facility 100 may provide for a way to
control access to the enterprise facility 102 networks. For
instance, the enterprise facility 102 may want to restrict access
to certain applications, networks, files, printers, servers,
databases, or the like. In addition, the enterprise facility 102
may want to restrict user access under certain conditions, such as
the user's location, usage history, need to know, job position,
connection type, time of day, method of authentication,
client-system configuration, or the like. Network access rules may
be developed by the enterprise facility 102, or pre-packaged by a
supplier, and managed by the threat management facility 100 in
conjunction with the administration facility 134. Network access
rules and control may be responsible for determining if a client
facility 144 application should be granted access to a requested
network location. The network location may be on the same network
as the facility or may be on another network. In an embodiment, the
network access control may verify access rights for client
facilities 144 from within the network or may verify access rights
of computer facilities from external networks. When network access
for a client facility 144 is denied, the network access control may
send an information file to the client facility 144, the
information file may contain data or commands that may provide
instructions for the remedial action facility 128. The information
sent by the network access facility 124 control may be a data file.
The data file may contain a number of commands, definitions,
instructions, or commands to be parsed and acted upon through the
remedial action facility 128, or the like. The information sent by
the network access facility 124 control may be a command or command
file that the remedial action facility 128 may access and take
action upon.
[0063] In an embodiment, the network access rules 124 may provide
an information store to be accessed by the network access control.
The network access rules facility 124 may include databases such as
a block list, a black list, an allowed list, a white list, an
unacceptable network site database, an acceptable network site
database, a network site reputation database, or the like of
network access locations that may or may not be accessed by the
client facility 144. Additionally, the network access rules
facility 124 may incorporate rule evaluation; the rule evaluation
may parse network access requests and apply the parsed information
to network access rules. The network access rule facility 124 may
have a generic set of rules that may be in support of an enterprise
facility's 102 network access policies, such as denying access to
certain types of websites 158, controlling instant messenger 162
accesses, or the like. Rule evaluation may include regular
expression rule evaluation, or other rule evaluation method for
interpreting the network access request and comparing the
interpretation to the established rules for network access. In an
embodiment, the network access rules facility 124 may receive a
rules evaluation request from the network access control and may
return the rules evaluation to the network access control.
[0064] Similar to the threat definitions facility 114, the network
access rule facility 124 may provide updated rules and policies to
the network access rules facility 124. The network access rules
facility 124 may be maintained by the network administration
facility 134 using the network access rules facility 124
management. In an embodiment, the network administration facility
134 may be able to maintain a set of access rules manually by
adding rules, changing rules, deleting rules, or the like.
Additionally, the administration facility 134 may be able to
retrieve predefined rule sets from a provider that may provide a
set of rules to be applied to an entire enterprise facility 102.
The network administration facility 134 may be able to modify the
predefined rules as needed for a particular enterprise facility 102
using the network access rules management facility 124.
[0065] When a threat or policy violation is detected by the threat
management facility 100, the threat management facility 100 may
provide for a remedial action facility 128. Remedial action may
take a plurality of forms, such as terminating or modifying an
ongoing process or interaction, sending a warning to a client or
administration facility 134 of an ongoing process or interaction,
executing a program or application to remediate against a threat or
violation, record interactions for subsequent evaluation, or the
like. Remedial action may be associated with an application that
responds to information that a client facility 144 network access
request has been denied. In an embodiment, when the data file is
received, remedial action may parse the data file, interpret the
various aspects of the data file, and act on the parsed data file
information to determine actions to be taken on an application
requesting access to a denied network location. In an embodiment,
when the data file is received, remedial action may access the
threat definitions to parse the data file and determine an action
to be taken on an application requesting access to a denied network
location. In an embodiment, the information received from the
facility may be a command or a command file. The remedial action
facility may carry out any commands that are received or parsed
from a data file from the facility without performing any
interpretation of the commands. In an embodiment, the remedial
action facility may interact with the received information and may
perform various actions on a client requesting access to a denied
network location. The action may be one or more of continuing to
block all requests to a denied network location, a malicious code
scan on the application, a malicious code scan on the client
facility 144, quarantine of the application, terminating the
application, isolation of the application, isolation of the client
facility 144 to a location within the network that restricts
network access, blocking a network access port from a client
facility 144, reporting the application to a administration
facility 134, or the like.
[0066] Remedial action may be provided as a result of a detection
of a threat or violation. The detection techniques facility 130 may
include monitoring the enterprise facility 102 network or end-point
devices, such as by monitoring streaming data through the gateway,
across the network, through routers and hubs, and the like. The
detection techniques facility 130 may include monitoring activity
and stored files on computing facilities, such as on server
facilities 142, desktop computers, laptop computers, other mobile
computing devices, and the like. Detection techniques, such as
scanning a computer's stored files, may provide the capability of
checking files for stored threats, either in the active or passive
state. Detection techniques, such as streaming file management, may
provide the capability of checking files received at the network,
gateway facility, client facility 144, and the like. This may
provide the capability of not allowing a streaming file or portions
of the streaming file containing malicious code from entering the
client facility 144, gateway facility, or network. In an
embodiment, the streaming file may be broken into blocks of
information, and a plurality of virus identities may be used to
check each of the blocks of information for malicious code. In an
embodiment, any blocks that are not determined to be clear of
malicious code may not be delivered to the client facility 144,
gateway facility, or network.
[0067] Verifying that the threat management facility 100 is
detecting threats and violations to established policy, may require
the ability to test the system, either at the system level or for a
particular computing component. The testing facility 118 may allow
the administration facility 134 to coordinate the testing of the
security configurations of client facility 144 computing facilities
on a network. The administration facility 134 may be able to send
test files to a set of client facility 144 computing facilities to
test the ability of the client facility 144 to determine
acceptability of the test file. After the test file has been
transmitted, a recording facility may record the actions taken by
the client facility 144 in reaction to the test file. The recording
facility may aggregate the testing information from the client
facility 144 and report the testing information to the
administration facility 134. The administration facility 134 may be
able to determine the level of preparedness of the client facility
144 computing facilities by the reported information. Remedial
action may be taken for any of the client facility 144 computing
facilities as determined by the administration facility 134;
remedial action may be taken by the administration facility 134 or
by the user of the client facility 144.
[0068] The threat research facility 132 may provide a continuously
ongoing effort to maintain the threat protection capabilities of
the threat management facility 100 in light of continuous
generation of new or evolved forms of malware. Threat research may
include researchers and analysts working on known and emerging
malware, such as viruses, rootkits a spyware, as well as other
computer threats such as phishing, spam, scams, and the like. In
embodiments, through threat research, the threat management
facility 100 may be able to provide swift, global responses to the
latest threats.
[0069] The threat management facility 100 may provide threat
protection to the enterprise facility 102, where the enterprise
facility 102 may include a plurality of networked components, such
as client facility 144, server facility 142, DNS server facility
210, administration facility 134, firewall 138, gateway, hubs 148,
routers, threat management appliance 140, desktop users, mobile
users, and the like. In embodiments, it may be the end-point
computer security facility 152, located on a computer's desktop,
which may provide threat protection to a user, and associated
enterprise facility 102. In embodiments, the term end-point may
refer to a computer system that may source data, receive data,
evaluate data, buffer data, or the like, such as a user's desktop
computer as an end-point computer, a firewall as a data evaluation
end-point computer system, a laptop as a mobile end-point computer,
a PDA as a hand-held end-point computer. In embodiments, end-point
may refer to a source or destination for data, including such
components where the destination is characterized by an evaluation
point for data, and where the data may be sent to a subsequent
destination after evaluation. The end-point computer security
facility 152 may be an application loaded onto the computer
platform or computer support component, where the application may
accommodate the plurality of computer platforms and/or functional
requirements of the component. For instance, a client facility 144
computer may be one of a plurality of computer platforms, such as
Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and the like, where the end-point
computer security facility 152 may be adapted to the specific
platform, while maintaining a uniform product and product services
across platforms. Additionally, components may have different
functions to serve within the enterprise facility's 102 networked
computer-based infrastructure. For instance, computer support
components provided as hubs 148, routers, server facility 142, DNS
server facility 210, firewalls 138, and the like, may require
unique security application software to protect their portion of
the system infrastructure, while providing an element in an
integrated threat management system that extends out beyond the
threat management facility 100 to incorporate all computer
resources under its protection.
[0070] The enterprise facility 102 may include a plurality of
client facility 144 computing platforms on which the end-point
computer security facility 152 is adapted. A client facility 144
computing platform may be a computer system that is able to access
a service on another computer, such as a server facility 142, via a
network. This client facility 144 server facility 142 model may
apply to a plurality of networked applications, such as a client
facility 144 connecting to an enterprise facility 102 application
server facility 142, a web browser client facility 144 connecting
to a web server facility 142, an e-mail client facility 144
retrieving e-mail from an internet 154 service provider's mail
storage servers 142, and the like. In embodiments, traditional
large client facility 144 applications may be switched to websites,
which may increase the browser's role as a client facility 144.
Clients 144 may be classified as a function of the extent to which
they perform their own processing. For instance, client facilities
144 are sometimes classified as a fat client facility 144 or thin
client facility 144. The fat client facility 144, also known as a
thick client facility 144 or rich client facility 144, may be a
client facility 144 that performs the bulk of data processing
operations itself, and does not necessarily rely on the server
facility 142. The fat client facility 144 may be most common in the
form of a personal computer, where the personal computer may
operate independent of any server facility 142. Programming
environments for fat clients 144 may include CURL, Delphi,
Droplets, Java, win32, X11, and the like. Thin clients 144 may
offer minimal processing capabilities, for instance, the thin
client facility 144 may primarily provide a graphical user
interface provided by an application server facility 142, which may
perform the bulk of any required data processing. Programming
environments for thin clients 144 may include JavaScript/AJAX, ASP,
JSP, Ruby on Rails, Python's Django, PHP, and the like. The client
facility 144 may also be a mix of the two, such as processing data
locally, but relying on a server facility 142 for data storage. As
a result, this hybrid client facility 144 may provide benefits from
both the fat client facility 144 type, such as multimedia support
and high performance, and the thin client facility 144 type, such
as high manageability and flexibility. In embodiments, the threat
management facility 100, and associated end-point computer security
facility 152, may provide seamless threat protection to the
plurality of clients 144, and client facility 144 types, across the
enterprise facility 102.
[0071] The enterprise facility 102 may include a plurality of
server facility 142, such as application servers 142,
communications servers 142, file servers 142, database servers 142,
proxy servers 142, mail servers 142, fax servers 142, game servers
142, web servers 142, and the like. A server facility 142, which
may also be referred to as a server facility 142 application,
server facility 142 operating system, server facility 142 computer,
or the like, may be an application program or operating system that
accepts client facility 144 connections in order to service
requests from clients 144. The server facility 142 application may
run on the same computer as the client facility 144 using it, or
the server facility 142 and the client facility 144 may be running
on different computers and communicating across the network. Server
facility 142 applications may be divided among server facility 142
computers, with the dividing depending upon the workload. For
instance, under light load conditions all server facility 142
applications may run on a single computer and under heavy load
conditions a single server facility 142 application may run on
multiple computers. In embodiments, the threat management facility
100 may provide threat protection to server facilities 142 within
the enterprise facility 102 as load conditions and application
changes are made.
[0072] A server facility 142 may also be an appliance facility 140,
where the appliance facility 140 provides specific services onto
the network. Though the appliance facility 140 is a server facility
142 computer, that may be loaded with a server facility 142
operating system and server facility 142 application, the
enterprise facility 102 user may not need to configure it, as the
configuration may have been performed by a third party. In an
embodiment, an enterprise facility 102 appliance may be a server
facility 142 appliance that has been configured and adapted for use
with the threat management facility 100, and located within the
facilities of the enterprise facility 102. The enterprise
facility's 102 threat management appliance may enable the
enterprise facility 102 to administer an on-site local managed
threat protection configuration, where the administration facility
134 may access the threat resources through an interface, such as a
web portal. In an alternate embodiment, the enterprise facility 102
may be managed remotely from a third party, vendor, or the like,
without an appliance facility 140 located within the enterprise
facility 102. In this instance, the appliance functionality may be
a shared hardware product between pluralities of enterprises 102.
In embodiments, the appliance facility 140 may be located at the
enterprise facility 102, where the enterprise facility 102
maintains a degree of control. In embodiments, a hosted service may
be provided, where the appliance 140 may still be an on-site black
box to the enterprise facility 102, physically placed there because
of infrastructure requirements, but managed by a third party,
vendor, or the like.
[0073] Simple server facility 142 appliances may also be utilized
across the enterprise facility's 102 network infrastructure, such
as switches, routers, wireless routers, hubs 148, gateways, print
servers 142, net modems, and the like. These simple server facility
appliances may not require configuration by the enterprise facility
102, but may require protection from threats via an end-point
computer security facility 152. These appliances may provide
interconnection services within the enterprise facility 102
network, and therefore may advance the spread of a threat if not
properly protected.
[0074] One way for a client facility 144 to be protected from
threats from within the enterprise facility 102 network may be a
personal firewall. A personal firewall may be an application that
controls network traffic to and from a client, permitting or
denying communications based on a security policy. Personal
firewalls may be designed for use by end-users, which may result in
protection for only the computer on which it's installed. Personal
firewalls may be able to control network traffic by providing
prompts each time a connection is attempted and adapting security
policy accordingly. Personal firewalls may also provide some level
of intrusion detection, which may allow the software to terminate
or block connectivity where it suspects an intrusion is being
attempted. Other features that may be provided by a personal
firewall may include alerts about outgoing connection attempts,
control of program access to networks, hiding the client from port
scans by not responding to unsolicited network traffic, monitoring
of applications that may be listening for incoming connections,
monitoring and regulation of incoming and outgoing network traffic,
prevention of unwanted network traffic from installed applications,
reporting applications that make connection attempts, reporting
destination servers with which applications may be attempting
communications, and the like. In embodiments, the personal firewall
may be provided by the threat management facility 100.
[0075] Another important component that may be protected by an
end-point computer security facility 152 is a network firewall
facility 138, which may be a hardware or software device that may
be configured to permit, deny, or proxy data through a computer
network that has different levels of trust in its source of data.
For instance, an internal enterprise facility 102 network may have
a high level of trust, because the source of all data has been
sourced from within the enterprise facility 102. An example of a
low level of trust is the Internet 154, because the source of data
may be unknown. A zone with an intermediate trust level, situated
between the Internet 154 and a trusted internal network, may be
referred to as a "perimeter network". Since firewall facilities 138
represent boundaries between threat levels, the end-point computer
security facility 152 associated with the firewall facility 138 may
provide resources that may control the flow of threats at this
enterprise facility 102 network entry point. Firewall facilities
138, and associated end-point computer security facility 152, may
also be associated with a network node that may be equipped for
interfacing between networks that use different protocols. In
embodiments, the end-point computer security facility 152 may
provide threat protection in a plurality of network infrastructure
locations, such as at the enterprise facility 102 network entry
point, i.e. the firewall facility 138 or gateway; at the server
facility 142; at distribution points within the network, i.e. the
routers and hubs 148; at the desktop of client facility 144
computers; and the like. In embodiments, the most effective
location for threat detection may be at the user's computer desktop
end-point computer security facility 152.
[0076] The interface between the threat management facility 100 and
the enterprise facility 102, and through the appliance facility 140
to embedded end-point computer security facilities, may include a
set of tools that may be the same for all enterprise
implementations, but allow each enterprise to implement different
controls. In embodiments, these controls may include both automatic
actions and managed actions. Automatic actions may include
downloads of the end-point computer security facility 152 to
components of the enterprise facility 102, downloads of updates to
existing end-point computer security facilities of the enterprise
facility 102, uploaded network interaction requests from enterprise
facility 102 components to the threat management facility 100, and
the like. In embodiments, automatic interactions between the
enterprise facility 102 and the threat management facility 100 may
be configured by the threat management facility 100 and an
administration facility 134 in the enterprise facility 102. The
administration facility 134 may configure policy rules that
determine interactions, such as developing rules for accessing
applications, as in who is authorized and when applications may be
used; establishing rules for ethical behavior and activities; rules
governing the use of entertainment software such as games, or
personal use software such as IM 162 and VoIP 164; rules for
determining access to enterprise facility 102 computing resources,
including authentication, levels of access, risk assessment, and
usage history tracking; rules for when an action is not allowed,
such as whether an action is completely deigned or just modified in
its execution; and the like. The administration facility 134 may
also establish license management, which in turn may further
determine interactions associated with a licensed application. In
embodiments, interactions between the threat management facility
100 and the enterprise facility 102 may provide threat protection
to the enterprise facility 102 by managing the flow of network data
into and out of the enterprise facility 102 through automatic
actions that may be configured by the threat management facility
100 or the administration facility 134.
[0077] Client facilities 144 within the enterprise facility 102 may
be connected to the enterprise facility 102 network by way of wired
network facilities 148 or wireless network facilities 150. Client
facilities 144 connected to the enterprise facility 102 network via
a wired facility 148 or wireless facility 150 may receive similar
protection, as both connection types are ultimately connected to
the same enterprise facility 102 network, with the same end-point
computer security facility 152, and the same threat protected
enterprise facility 102 environment. Mobile wireless facility 150
clients 144, because of their ability to connect to any wireless
150 network access point, may connect to the internet 154 outside
the enterprise facility 102, and therefore outside the
threat-protected environment of the enterprise facility 102. In
this instance the mobile client facility 144, if not for the
presence of the end-point computer security facility 152 may
experience a malware attack or perform actions counter to
enterprise facility 102 established policies. In addition, there
may be a plurality of ways for the threat management facility 100
to protect the out-of-enterprise facility 102 mobile client
facility 144 that has an embedded end-point computer security
facility 152, such as by providing URL filtering in personal
routers, using a web appliance as a DNS proxy, or the like. Mobile
client facilities 144 that are components of the enterprise
facility 102 but temporarily outside connectivity with the
enterprise facility 102 network, may be provided with the same
threat protection and policy control as client facilities 144
inside the enterprise facility 102. In addition, mobile client
facilities 144 may receive the same interactions to and from the
threat management facility 100 as client facilities 144 inside the
enterprise facility 102, where mobile client facilities 144 may be
considered a virtual extension of the enterprise facility 102,
receiving all the same services via their embedded end-point
computer security facility 152.
[0078] Interactions between the threat management facility 100 and
the components of the enterprise facility 102, including mobile
client facility 144 extensions of the enterprise facility 102, may
ultimately be connected through the internet 154. Threat management
facility 100 downloads and upgrades to the enterprise facility 102
may be passed from the firewalled networks of the threat management
facility 100 through to the end-point computer security facility
152 equipped components of the enterprise facility 102. In turn the
end-point computer security facility 152 components of the
enterprise facility 102 may upload policy and access requests back
across the internet 154 and through to the threat management
facility 100. The Internet 154 however, is also the path through
which threats may be transmitted from their source. These network
threats may include threats from a plurality of sources, including
websites 158, e-mail 160, IM 162, VoIP 164, application software,
and the like. These threats may attempt to attack a mobile
enterprise facility 102 client facility 144 equipped with an
end-point computer security facility 152, but in embodiments, as
long as the mobile client facility 144 is embedded with an
end-point computer security facility 152, as described above,
threats may have no better success than if the mobile client
facility 144 where inside the enterprise facility 102.
[0079] However, if the mobile client facility 144 were to attempt
to connect into an unprotected connection point, such as at a
secondary location 108 that is not a part of the enterprise
facility 102, the mobile client facility 144 may be required to
request network interactions through the threat management facility
100, where contacting the threat management facility 100 may be
performed prior to any other network action. In embodiments, the
client facility's 144 end-point computer security facility 152 may
manage actions in unprotected network environments such as when the
client facility 144 is in a secondary location 108 or connecting
wirelessly 150 to a non-enterprise facility 102 wireless internet
154 connection, where the end-point computer security facility 152
may dictate what actions are allowed, blocked, modified, or the
like. For instance, if the client facility's 144 end-point computer
security facility 152 is unable to establish a secured connection
to the threat management facility 100, the end-point computer
security facility 152 may inform the user of such, and recommend
that the connection not be made. In the instance when the user
chooses to connect despite the recommendation, the end-point
computer security facility 152 may perform specific actions during
or after the unprotected connection is made, including running
scans during the connection period, running scans after the
connection is terminated, storing interactions for subsequent
threat and policy evaluation, contacting the threat management
facility 100 upon first instance of a secured connection for
further actions and or scanning, restricting access to network and
local resources, or the like. In embodiments, the end-point
computer security facility 152 may perform specific actions to
remediate possible threat incursions or policy violations during or
after the unprotected connection.
[0080] The secondary location 108 may have no end-point computer
security facilities 152 as a part of its computer components, such
as its firewalls 138, servers 142, clients 144, hubs 148, wireless
hubs 150, and the like. As a result, the computer components of the
secondary location 108 may be open to threat attacks, and become
potential sources of threats, as well as any mobile enterprise
facility 102 clients 144 that may be connected to the secondary
location's 108 network. In this instance, these computer components
may now unknowingly spread a threat to other components connected
to the network.
[0081] Some threats may not come directly from the Internet 154,
such as from non-enterprise facility 102 controlled mobile devices
that are physically brought into the enterprise facility 102 and
connected to the enterprise facility 102 client facilities 144. The
connection may be made from direct connection with the enterprise
facility's 102 client facility 144, such as through a USB port, or
in physical proximity with the enterprise facility's 102 client
facility 144 such that a wireless facility 150 connection can be
established, such as through a Bluetooth connection. These physical
proximity threats 110 may be another mobile computing device, a
portable memory storage device, a mobile communications device, or
the like, such as CDs and DVDs 170, memory stick 174, flash drive
174, external hard drive, cell phone 178, PDAs 180, MP3 players,
digital cameras, point-to-point devices, digital picture frames,
digital pens, navigation devices, appliances, and the like. A
physical proximity threat 110 may have been previously infiltrated
by network threats while connected to an unprotected network
connection outside the enterprise facility 102, and when connected
to the enterprise facility 102 client facility 144, pose a threat.
Because of their mobile nature, physical proximity threats 110 may
infiltrate computing resources in any location, such as being
physically brought into the enterprise facility 102 site, connected
to an enterprise facility 102 client facility 144 while that client
facility 144 is mobile, plugged into an unprotected client facility
144 at a secondary location 108, and the like. A mobile device,
once connected to an unprotected computer resource, may become a
physical proximity threat 110. In embodiments, the end-point
computer security facility 152 may provide enterprise facility 102
computing resources with threat protection against physical
proximity threats 110, for instance, through scanning the device
prior to allowing data transfers, through security validation
certificates, through establishing a safe zone within the
enterprise facility 102 computing resource to transfer data into
for evaluation, and the like.
[0082] Now that the overall system has been described, we turn
towards a set of embodiments that apply policies to proxy
communications. It should be understood that the following
embodiments may be managed through a threat management facility 100
along with other services, such as those described herein.
[0083] It should be understood that, in embodiments, a web gateway
may include a security facility 152. In this context, the security
facility 152 may in effect eavesdrop on requests and responses that
pass through the web gateway. As appropriate and in accordance with
one or more policies, the security facility 152 may cause the
gateway to drop certain incoming requests, drop certain incoming
responses, prevent the retransmission of requests or responses,
transmit any of a variety of messages or alerts, and so on. This is
described in detail herein and elsewhere.
[0084] In some embodiments, client computers or other computing
facilities may include the security facility 152. This is described
in greater detail hereinabove with reference to FIG. 1 and
elsewhere.
[0085] Proxy communications may involve a proxy server. The server
142C may be a proxy server outside of the enterprise 102. In some
embodiments, the proxy server 142C may be a so-called "anonymizer"
that allows a user to indirectly access network content outside of
the enterprise 102. In embodiments, the network content may include
websites, web services, any and all data files or data streams, and
so on. In any case, the indirect access may enable a user to access
the network content via alternate URLs that are directed at the
proxy server 142C rather than source servers for the content.
Throughout this disclosure, proxy servers and anonymizers may be
referred to interchangeably except where otherwise stated or clear
from the context.
[0086] Some security applications, such as and without limitation
parental control type applications, may be directed at restricting
access to network content. To perform their intended function,
these applications may need to function in a network environment
that includes proxy servers.
[0087] In embodiments, the present invention may identify a
plurality of website categories, such as content-based categories,
security categories, and the like. For instance, content-based
categories may include adult/sexually explicit, advertisements
& pop-ups, alcohol & tobacco, arts, blogs & forums,
business, chat, computing & internet, criminal activity,
downloads, education, entertainment, fashion & beauty, finance
& investment, food & dining, gambling, games, government,
hacking, health & medicine, hobbies & recreation, hosting
sites, illegal drugs, infrastructure, intimate apparel &
swimwear, intolerance & hate, job search & career
development, kid's sites, motor vehicles, news, peer-to-peer,
personals and dating, philanthropic & professional
organizations, phishing & fraud, photo searches, politics,
proxies & translators, real estate, reference, religion,
ringtones/mobile phone downloads, search engines, sex education,
shopping, society & culture, spam URLs, sports, spyware,
streaming media, tasteless & offensive, travel, violence,
weapons, web-based e-mail, custom (user defined), uncategorized,
and the like. For instance, security categories may include
potentially unwanted application (PUA)/adware, other/mistyped,
PUA/system monitor, other/potentially exploited, PUA/remote, admin
tool, pornography/porn, PUA/hacking tool, PUA/other,
entertainment/banking, entertainment/games, entertainment/other,
communication/cell phones, entertainment/shopping, PUA/dialer,
entertainment/sports, entertainment/youth, spam/Chinese, media/ads,
spam/drugs, media/news, spam/mortgage, media/TV, spam/other,
search/job search, spam/product, spam/Russian, spam/stock,
spam/survey, illegal/child abuse, illegal/child pornography,
illegal/cracked or pirated software, malware/rat repository,
illegal/criminal activities, malware/reference, and the like.
[0088] A variety of proxy servers are described herein and still
others will be appreciated. In practice, proxy servers may act as
anonymizers, may insert advertising into network content, may act
as a man in the middle that captures sensitive information such as
user names and passwords, and so on. Generally, security
applications may detect proxy servers, may monitor or block
communications involving proxy servers, and so on. This is
described in greater detail hereinafter and elsewhere.
[0089] In embodiments, proxy servers 142C may be provided by
profit-seeking entities ("proxy providers") that generate
advertising revenue by inserting advertising into network content.
For example and without limitation, a user may request a web page
from a proxy server by submitting an alternate URL to the proxy
server. The proxy server may receive the alternate URL, convert it
to a primary URL, and then request the web page from a web server
by submitting the primary URL to the web server. In response to the
request, the web server may return the web page to the proxy server
142C. The proxy server 142C may then insert one or more
advertisements into the web page before returning the web page to
the user. When the user views or interacts with at least one of the
advertisements, advertising revenue (typically from an advertising
network such as Google AdSense, AdBrite, or the like) may be
credited to an owner or operator of the proxy server.
[0090] In embodiments, the crediting of advertising revenue depends
upon a unique account identifier that is embedded within the web
page. This identifier may be communicated to the advertising
network when the user views or interacts with an advertisement.
Having received this identifier, the advertising network may credit
advertising revenue to the entity that delivered the advertisement
to the user.
[0091] In practice, the advertising network may require that the
unique account identifier within the web page be encoded in the
clear, without deliberate obfuscation or encryption. Moreover, the
advertising network may require that only one account identifier be
associated with each profit-seeking entity.
[0092] Policies, such as and without limitation those policies
described hereinabove and elsewhere, may dictate that any and all
communications with proxy servers 142C should be blocked.
[0093] Security facilities 152 or the like may eavesdrop on
communications of computing facilities within an enterprise 102.
Upon recognizing an outbound communication to a proxy server 142C,
these security facilities 152 may block the outbound communication
in accordance with a policy. In some embodiments, recognizing the
outbound communication may include extracting a unique account
identifier from the communication and matching that identifier to a
database of identifiers that are known to be associated with proxy
providers.
[0094] In some embodiments, the threat management facility 100 may
include a database that contains associations between account
identifiers and proxy providers. From time to time, these
associations may be communicated to any and all of the security
facilities 152. In some embodiments, any of the security facilities
152 may maintain a local cache or the like of at least some of the
associations. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments
any of the security facilities 152 may submit a unique account
identifier in a query to the threat management facility 100, which
provides an affirmative or negative response depending upon whether
or not the unique account identifier is known by the threat
management facility 100 to be associated with a proxy provider.
[0095] In some embodiments, the database containing associations
between account identifiers and proxy providers may be updated via
manual entries, automated proactive web scanning systems, and so
on. It will be understood that a variety of such web scanning
systems are possible, and all such systems are within the scope of
the present disclosure.
[0096] FIG. 2 depicts a method for enforcing a policy that
prohibits communications through a proxy server. The method 200
begins at block 202, where a user of a computing facility accesses
network content at an alternate URL. A security facility 152
observes this and eavesdrops on the network content in transit to
the computing facility. As discussed hereinabove, in practice an
account identifier may be present in the network content and may be
readily accessible by the security facility 152.
[0097] As shown by block 204, the security facility 152 may check
to see if the account identifier exists in a database of account
identifiers. As discussed hereinabove, in embodiments the database
may exist within the security facility 152, within the management
facility 100, partially within the security facility 152 and
partially within the management facility 100, and so on. Also as
discussed hereinabove, checking to see if the account identifier
exists in the database may involve direct database access via a
database query, indirect database access via a query to a remote
system that itself queries the database, and so on. It will be
understood that a variety of such embodiments are possible.
[0098] If the account identifier is in the database, the method 200
proceeds to block 208. Here, the security facility 152 blocks
access to the network content. It will be understood that a variety
of techniques may be employed to block the network content. These
techniques may include, without limitation, simply not allowing the
network content to transit the security facility 152, disabling or
reconfiguring an application, disabling or reconfiguring a logical
or physical network port, transmitting an appropriate message, and
so on.
[0099] However, if the account identifier is not in the database,
the method 200 proceeds to block 210. Here, the URL may be
transmitted to a laboratory for analysis. In embodiments, the
laboratory may include the threat management facility 100 or any
other facility adapted to receive URLs for analysis.
[0100] Analysis of the URL may be conducted as shown by block 212.
The analysis may be directed at determining whether the URL refers
to a proxy server 142C. In some embodiments, the analysis may
include accessing the network content at the URL, extracting an
account identifier from the network content, and looking up the
account identifier in a database of account identifiers that are
known or suspected to be associated with proxy providers. In some
embodiments, the analysis may include looking up the URL in a
database of known or suspected proxy servers. In some embodiments,
the analysis may include inspecting page structure and content of
the network content. Generally, it will be understood that a
variety of analytical systems and methods may be applied to
determine whether the URL refers to a proxy server 142C.
[0101] If the laboratory's analysis of the URL indicates that the
URL refers to a proxy server 142C, the process 200 may continue to
block 214. Here, an account identifier from within the network
content is added to a database of account identifiers of known or
suspected proxy providers. Alternatively, the URL may be flagged
and stored in a database for further review.
[0102] If the laboratory's analysis does not indicate an
association between the URL and a proxy server then the process 200
may continue to block 218 where the URL is ignored.
[0103] Although the above examples and descriptions of the method
200 relate to proxy servers, the method 200 is not limited to
applications involving proxy servers. For example and without
limitation, an owner/operator of websites may run a number of
adult-oriented websites at some number of domains. Once the
owner/operator's account identifier becomes known, any domains or
URLs found to contain that account identifier could be grouped
together by owner/operator. Since in this example the
owner/operator is known to be associated with adult-oriented
websites, such domains or URLs may also be categorized (if even
provisionally so) as being adult-oriented. This categorization may
be stored in a database or the like, and may be used in the
enforcement of policies directed at adult-oriented websites. Thus,
generally, the method 200 may be employed to group domains or URLs
together by account identifier, to associate owner/operators with
domains or URLs, to categorize domains or URLs, and so on.
[0104] Continuing on, embodiments of the present invention may
identify proxy servers by recognizing a mismatch between a first
URL of network content and an expected URL of the network content.
Having so identified a proxy server, policies that relate to proxy
server usage may be employed with respect to the first URL and the
network content from it. In some embodiments, these policies may be
directed at blocking requests for the network content at the first
URL.
[0105] For example and without limitation, network content from
Facebook may have an expected URL that includes the domain
facebook.com. When network content from Facebook appears at a first
URL that does not contain the domain facebook.com, embodiments may
identify or suspect the first URL to be that of a proxy server.
Thenceforth, a security facility 152 or the like that enforces the
policy may recognize and block requests for network content at the
first URL. A variety of other such examples will be appreciated,
including without limitation examples relating to social networking
sites, gaming/downloading sites, inappropriate/adult content sites,
banking sites, and so on.
[0106] In order to recognize the mismatch, a variety of techniques
may be employed to detect that the network content from the first
URL in fact originates from another URL (i.e., the expected URL).
For example, in practice websites typically contain a number of
pages sharing a substantially consistent look and feel. This
consistency may be preserved as a page is processed and forwarded
by a proxy server. When this is the case, the look and feel may be
reflected in common characteristics observable by a scanning
mechanism at a security facility 152. In embodiments the common
characteristics may be associated with the expected URL and may
include text such as page titles, copyright messages, and the like;
specific HTML structuring and layout; comments within HTML; common
attributes, class names, script components, and so on; specific
image files used as page decoration, particularly and without
limitation so-called "favicons"--small graphical icons used within
browsers that are closely tied to a particular website,
organization, or brand; links that may not have been translated by
the proxy server; style elements, style sheets, or the like;
client-side executable content such as and without limitation
JavaScript; elements within HTTP headers returned by a server from
which the proxy server received the network content; and so on.
[0107] In some embodiments, a virus detection application may
determine that network content from one URL in fact originates from
another URL. Generally, the virus detection application may process
network content in search of data that matches genes or identities
of viruses. However, in such embodiments, genes or identities that
match observed characteristics of known websites may be created and
processed by the virus detection application as well. Matches
according to these genes or identities may indicate that network
content originates from a known website. Generally, this may be
referred to herein and elsewhere as gene-based detection.
[0108] Yet another technique may be employed to identify URLs that
are associated with proxy servers. This technique may involve
crawling a large number of popular websites to produce a database
of fingerprints for each of the websites. Such crawling may occur
from time to time. In some embodiments, the fingerprints may
include a checksum, a "fuzzy" or approximate fingerprint, and so
on. In any case, the fingerprints, checksums, or the like may be
stored in a database, which may be published from time to time. For
example and without limitation, the threat management facility 100
may contain the database and may publish it to one or more of the
security facilities 152. In some embodiments, the database may be
published to subscribers that have paid for (or otherwise have
provided consideration for) the database. In any case, this
technique may be referred to herein and elsewhere as fuzzy
fingerprinting.
[0109] Throughout this disclosure and elsewhere, a checksum may be
calculated in a variety of ways, using any and all techniques for
calculating a checksum applied to any and all portions of a
website.
[0110] In some embodiments, web pages may be decomposed into
page-level "objects" by parsing HTML/XML/script content of the web
pages. Each object and its relationship to the overall page may
have a structural uniqueness. For example, it should be appreciated
that a page's structure may be represented as a tree of page-level
objects. Each object in the tree has a unique position within it,
and this may relate to the structural uniqueness. For another
example, it should be appreciated that, when displayed or rendered
into a frame buffer, each (X,Y)-pixel in the page may be set
according to one or more objects that are layered according to a
Z-component or the like. In any case, based upon the structural
uniqueness, any and all of the objects (or aspects thereof) may be
identified. Once identified, a checksum of the objects may be
calculated.
[0111] In some embodiments, certain response headers such as cookie
headers or the like may be extracted. Once extracted, a checksum of
these headers could be calculated.
[0112] In some embodiments, specific keywords or phrases could be
matched using a fuzzy or simple substring matching on the entire
web page. A checksum could then be calculated on these matched
keywords or phrases.
[0113] It will be understood that a variety of embodiments for
calculating a checksum of a website are possible.
[0114] In some embodiments, communications with an uncategorized
website may be monitored for the presence of the fingerprints. When
a detection threshold is exceeded, the website may be suspected of
being an unauthorized republication of a genuine website. In
practice, such republication of a website may be provided by a
proxy server, a malicious website, or the like. For example and
without limitation, an uncategorized website may provide numerous
instances of network content that match fingerprints that are in
the fingerprint database and that are known from web crawling to be
associated with facebook.com. As a result, the uncategorized
website may be re-categorized as suspicious, as a web proxy, or the
like. Similarly, if the network content is in the fingerprint
database and known to be associated with a bank, the uncategorized
website may be categorized as a source of potential phishing
attacks. A variety of other such examples will be appreciated.
[0115] When an unauthorized republication of a website is detected,
all of the URLs associated with that website may be examined for a
longest common prefix. For example and without limitation, the
unauthorized republication may be associated with three URLs:
http://www.example.com/foo/bar; http://www.example.com/foo/foo; and
http://www.example.com/foo/baz. In this example, the longest common
prefix is http://www.example.com/foo. In embodiments, the longest
common prefix may be stored in a database and communicated to
security facilities 152. In some embodiments, any and all URLs
beginning with the longest common prefix may be deemed URLs of
unauthorized reproductions of network content.
[0116] When an unauthorized reproduction of a website is suspected,
a confidence level may be assigned to that suspicion. In
embodiments, the confidence level may be stored in a database,
communicated to security facilities, and so on.
[0117] Depending upon the confidence level, a variety of actions
may be taken when URLs associated with the reproduction are
accessed. Such actions may without limitation include blocking a
request to the network resource at the URL, blocking a response
from the network resource at the URL, logging such requests or
responses, and so on.
[0118] When the confidence level rises to a sufficient level, the
URLs may be added to a list of detected proxy sites. A user may
review this list for false positives, and provide an indication of
the false positives. In some embodiments, this review may take
place via a web browser with checkbox or other input elements for
receiving the input. A variety of such embodiments will be
understood.
[0119] In some embodiments, an indication of the detection of an
unauthorized reproduction and the confidence level may be
communicated to the threat management facility 100 for further
analysis or distribution to security facilities 152.
[0120] FIG. 3 depicts a method of detecting proxies. The method 300
begins at block 302 where network content from a server arrives
from a server at a URL. In block 304 the network content may be
processed by a method that identifies an anonymizer or by a method
that identifies the origin of web content, as described hereinabove
or elsewhere. Any of a number of systems and methods may be
employed to detect content. Two of these methods are described
herein and elsewhere as gene-based detection (method 1) and fuzzy
fingerprinting (method 2). In any case, when network content is
recognized, the test at block 308 produces a positive result and
the method 300 continues to block 310. Otherwise, the source of the
network content is not a proxy and the method 300 ends at block
314.
[0121] At block 310, a test determines whether the network
content's URL is valid. If it is, the source of the network content
is not a proxy and the method 300 ends at block 312. However, if
the network content's URL is invalid (e.g., when the network
content is known to originate from another URL) then the URL may be
added to a list of possible proxies, as shown by block 318. From
there, a test determines whether the URL is already flagged as a
potential proxy (block 320). If it is not already flagged, the URL
may be that of a proxy and an appropriate result is returned at
block 330. On the other hand, when the URL is already flagged,
another test (block 322) may determine whether the URL's host has
been previously observed serving content from a different
originating website. If not, the URL may be that of a proxy and an
appropriate result is returned at block 332. If so, the URL is
probably a proxy and an appropriate result is returned at block
328.
[0122] FIG. 4 depicts a method of detecting proxies. The method 400
begins at block 402 where network content arrives from a server at
a URL. If the URL is a trusted location then the network content is
passed along to a requesting client or user as shown by the path
through block 404 to block 422. Otherwise, as shown by block 408,
the network content may be processed by a method that identifies
content, such as and without limitation gene-based detection
(method 1) or fuzzy fingerprinting (method 2). If either of these
methods determines that the network content contains malware, then
delivery or operation of the network content may be blocked as
shown by the path through block 410 to block 424. Otherwise, the
test at block 410 returns a negative result and the method 400
continues to block 412.
[0123] If the URL is categorized, then the network content may be
processed according to policy rules relating to the URL's category
(as shown by the path through 412 to 414). However, if the URL is
not categorized, then the method 400 may continue with block 308 as
described hereinabove with reference to FIG. 3.
[0124] FIG. 5 depicts a method of detecting proxies and suspected
phishing sites. The method 500 begins from block 302 and proceeds
in the same manner as the method 300 described hereinabove with
reference to FIG. 3, except as follows: When the test at block 310
produces a negative result, the method 500 proceeds to block 520
where a test determines whether the network content is from a
backing or financial website. If it is, then the URL of the website
is added to a list of potential phishing sites as shown by block
504. Then, the network content and any request associated with it
may be blocked as shown by block 508. From here, as from the
negative branch from block 502, the method 500 may continue to
block 318, which is described in detail hereinabove.
[0125] In practice, users may learn of proxy servers via a web
search engine. In some embodiments, a security facility 152 may
block searches containing search terms that are related to finding
a proxy server. For example and without limitation, the security
facility 152 may block a search phrase containing the terms "proxy"
or "unblock facebook" or the like.
[0126] A database within the threat management facility 100 or the
security facility 152 may contain disallowed search keywords. In
embodiments, the database may contain keywords that are provided by
a manufacturer or provider of the threat management facility 100 or
security facility 152. In some embodiments, the database may
contain user-provided keywords.
[0127] In embodiments, searches may be submitted to search engines
via a URL that contains the search phrase. Major search engines use
established domain names in their URLs (e.g., google.com yahoo.com,
et cetera) and such URLs may be singled out for processing. The
processing may examine these URLs for disallowed keywords.
[0128] For example and without limitation, the following URL may be
singled out on the basis of the domain name (google.com);
subsequent processing of the URL may reveal the keyword
"proxy":
[0129]
http://www.google.com/search?h1=en&q=proxy&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
[0130] A variety of techniques for processing such URLs will be
appreciated. All such techniques are intended to fall within the
scope of the present disclosure.
[0131] In some embodiments, the database may include regular
expressions that match disallowed search keywords or disallowed
search URLs. The regular expressions may be directed at prefix
matching, suffix matching, wildcard/substitution matching, and so
on.
[0132] FIG. 6 depicts a method of selectively blocking access to a
search engine. In particular, this method 600 may disallow queries
containing certain keywords, matching certain regular expressions,
or the like. The method begins with a user 602 entering a search
word or search phrase into a search engine input screen. This
screen may include a web browser window, an applet window, or the
like. It will be understood that a variety of embodiments of the
screen are possible. In any case, the user's input may be
translated into a URL that contains the search word or search
phrase.
[0133] Next, as shown by the transition 604, the URL may be
transmitted to a web security system. This system may, without
limitation, include a security facility 152.
[0134] Then, as shown by the transition 608, the following may
occur: The web security system may extract keywords from the URL
and then query a database to see if these keywords are disallowed.
The database may respond as appropriate. In some embodiments, the
database may be integral to the web security system.
[0135] In some embodiments, the database may be a separate
application from the web security system. In some embodiments, the
web security system may locally or remotely access the database.
Still other embodiments of the database will be appreciated.
[0136] When the web security systems determines that one or more of
the keywords in the URL as disallowed, the web security system may
transmit an "access denied" message or the like (transition 610).
In some embodiments, this message may include an HTML status code
such as "403 Forbidden," "404 Not Found," and so on. It will be
understood that a variety of embodiments of the message are
possible.
[0137] Regarding all of the foregoing, some embodiments of the
present invention may categorize a website with the same category
by identifying operator identification information. This
information may include an account identifier, as described
hereinabove and elsewhere. Without limitation, a website may be
categorized as a proxy, an adult website, a blocked website, an
allowed, website, a gaming website, a social networking website, a
safe website, a job search website, an ecommerce website, and so
on. Depending upon the categorization, in some embodiments,
communications with the website may be blocked or allowed; an alert
may be triggered; the categorization or related communications may
be logged; another site-type detection action may be initiated; and
so on.
[0138] Some embodiments of the present invention may identify a
proxy site by discovering the operator identification information.
Without limitation, the proxy site may serve a reproduction of an
adult website, a blocked website, an allowed website, a gaming
website, a social network website, a safe website, a job search
website, an ecommerce website, and so on. Depending upon the
identification, in some embodiments, communications with the
website may be blocked or allowed; an alert may be triggered; the
identification or related communications may be logged; another
site-type detection action may be initiated; and so on.
[0139] Some embodiments of the present invention may identify a
proxy site by discovering advertising identification information,
which may include an account identifier. Without limitation, the
proxy site may serve a reproduction of an adult website, a blocked
website, an allowed website, a gaming website, a social network
website, a safe website, a job search website, an ecommerce
website, and so on. Depending upon the identification, in some
embodiments, communications with the website may be blocked or
allowed; an alert may be triggered; the identification or related
communications may be logged; another site-type detection action
may be initiated; and so on.
[0140] Some embodiments of the present invention may identify a
blocked category of website based on a search engine request URL.
The blocked category may include a proxy category, an adult
category, a gaming category, a social network category, a safe
category, a job search category, an ecommerce category, and so on.
Depending upon the category, in some embodiments, communications
with the search engine may be blocked or allowed; an alert may be
triggered; the category of the website or related communications
may be logged; another site-type detection action may be initiated;
and so on.
[0141] Some embodiments of the present invention may identify a
blocked website based in a search engine request URL. The blocked
website may be served by a proxy server; may be an adult, gaming,
social networking, safe, job search, or ecommerce website; and so
on. In some embodiments, communications with the blocked website
may be blocked or allowed; may trigger an alert; may be logged; may
initiate another site-type detection action; and so on.
[0142] Some embodiments of the present invention may categorize a
proxy website based upon similarities between the network content
it delivers and the network content delivered that a non-proxy
website delivers. The proxy website may be served by a proxy server
and may include network content that is blocked or allowed, that is
designated as safe, or that is associated with gaming, social
networking, job searching, ecommerce, and so on. In some
embodiments, communications with the proxy website may be blocked
or allowed, may trigger an alert, may be logged, may initiate
another site-type detection action, and so on.
[0143] Some embodiments of the present invention may identify
portions of websites as suspicious based upon a checksum comparison
with proxy sites. The portions of the websites may be served by a
proxy server and may include network content that is blocked or
allowed, that is designated as safe, or that is associated with
gaming, social networking, job searching, ecommerce, and so on. In
some embodiments, communications related to the portions of the
websites may be blocked or allowed, may trigger an alert, may be
logged, may initiate another site-type detection action, and so
on.
[0144] Some embodiments of the present invention may detect
uncategorized web-based proxy sites by identifying an embedded
secondary URL. A proxy server may embed this secondary URL into
network content. For example and without limitation the secondary
URL may be enable advertising from which an owner/operator of the
proxy server profits. In any case, the network content or the
secondary URL may be associated with adult content, blocked
content, allowed content, gaming content, social networking
content, safe content, job search content, ecommerce content, and
so on. In some embodiments, communications including the secondary
URL or related to the web-based proxy sites may be blocked or
allowed, may trigger an alert, may be logged, may initiate another
site-type detection action, and so on.
[0145] Some embodiments of the present invention relate to a method
for detecting uncategorized web-based proxy sites by determining if
a website to which a request is being sent is behaving as a proxy
for accessing content from other websites, and if so determined, to
prevent such request traffic. This process may be done in real time
(e.g. during, or following a user's form submission), offline (e.g.
in a lab forum where websites are tested for the further
development of black lists), or at other periods. The method also
provides other attributes to track further traffic that might
originate from the proxy site.
[0146] Current dynamic evaluation approaches may be restricted to
detecting URLs within form fields without further verification.
Such methods may be prone to false positives, as there are web
sites that provide form fields that contain host names, IP
addresses and the like, without necessarily performing a proxying
function. Also, sites such as translators that perform a useful
function by transforming site content into some other language may
not be detected by existing methods. The method of the invention
overcomes these limitations and provides a reliable way to identify
proxy and translator sites. In embodiments, where this process is
done in real time, the site interaction can be halted and other
remedial actions (as described herein elsewhere) may be
deployed.
[0147] Referring to FIG. 8, when a client submits any form field
that contains data that resembles a restricted URL to a web site
for the first time, a proxy detection engine 802 may hold the
submitted request in abeyance, and issue a copy of the request to
the same web site, now known as the suspected proxy site 804, with
the URL replaced by a probe URL, referred to as URL2 hereinafter.
Any form fields that are submitted by the client which contain
field entries that resemble a URL or domain name may be candidates
for interception by the proxy detection engine 802. In embodiments,
the URL and domain name may be checked to verify if it refers to a
website blocked by any productivity policy in effect.
[0148] In an embodiment, the interception may be performed, and the
proxy detection engine 802 may reside, on a web gateway or on the
client computer or some other endpoint in the network. On the
client side, the proxy detection engine 802 may be embodied as a
client side web browser plug-in. The plug-in may enable form field
entries to be detected before submission of the request as the
plug-in can monitor when a user is actually typing something. When
the proxy detection engine 802 resides on a gateway, it receives
the request with the form field already filled out.
[0149] URL2 may reference a web service, such as a probe site 808,
under the control of the proxy detection engine 802. When the probe
site 808 is accessed, the probe site 808 may return predetermined
information, such as a cryptographically secure hash, a
predetermined hash value, a URL relating to the probe site 808, an
IP address relating to the probe site 808, and the like, that the
detection engine 802 can verify as having come from that probe site
808 and no other. If the response from the probe site 808 contains
the verifiable predetermined information anywhere within it, then
it proves that the suspected proxy site 804 is proxying the content
from URL2 in some form, perhaps along with other extra content
wrapped around it. The original request can then be allowed or
denied according to the policy set for the use of anonymizing
proxies. If the response from the probe site 808 does not include
the verifiable predetermined information, then the original request
with the unmodified URL may be resubmitted as normal and the
response may be sent back to the client. The client may be unaware
that the URL is being replaced with URL2 when the client enters the
URL into the form field.
[0150] Once a proxy site has been identified, the identification
may be cached for a period of time so that multiple requests to the
same site will not incur the cost of the extra request to test for
proxying behavior.
[0151] In an embodiment, the predetermined information may not be a
standard word in a lexicon so as not to confuse a legitimate
translation site with a proxy site.
[0152] In an embodiment, the method for dynamic detection of
proxying behavior may be further extended to detect sites that
translate content in addition to proxying it. A unique
auto-generated test string in a specific language may be appended
to the intercepted request in URL2. This string may be returned
appended to the predetermined information generated by the probe
site 808. If it is detected at the client or gateway end that the
predetermined information is preserved but the text string is not,
the original site is determined to be translating content in
addition to proxying it. If both the predetermined information and
the text are preserved, the site is determined to be a pure
proxy.
[0153] In an embodiment, the probe site 808 may also gain useful
knowledge about or from each request that it handles. The query
itself may be customized by the proxy detection engine 802 to
reveal the state of the client/network where it originated; such
information can be stored and tracked, and historical patterns may
be the basis for alerting the owners of the source network to
potential attempts to circumvent their controls over web surfing.
Also, the IP address and DNS information of the proxy where the
connection originated can be catalogued and fed back to the proxy
detection engine 802 and/or the threat management facility 100 for
further proactive blocking.
[0154] In an embodiment, the name of the probe site 808 may
constantly change so that the proxy sites do not target the probe
site 808. The probe site 808 may be a dynamically changing site and
URL2 may be generated to remain adapted to identify the dynamically
changing site. In other embodiments, the probe site 808 may be an
anonymized site adapted to conceal its identity from proxy
sites.
[0155] Referring to FIG. 7, a method for detecting uncategorized
web-based proxy sites may start at logical block 704 where a form
field page request is submitted. Processing flow may continue to
logical block 708 where a test may determine if a URL or domain
name is present in the page. If the outcome of the test is
negative, processing flow may continue to logical block 710 where
the original request may be allowed to proceed normally after which
processing terminates. If the outcome of the test is positive,
processing flow may continue to logical block 714 where a test may
determine if the URL or domain is restricted. If the outcome of the
test is negative, processing flow may continue to logical block 710
where the original request may be allowed to proceed normally after
which processing terminates. If the outcome of the test is
positive, processing flow may continue to logical block 718 where a
test may determine if the target site is already in a cache of
proxy sites 722. If the outcome of the test is positive, processing
flow may continue to logical block 730 where the original request
may be blocked and the target site is cached as a proxy site 722,
after which processing flow terminates. If the outcome of the test
is negative, processing flow may continue to logical block 720,
where the request is cloned with a probe URL, URL2. Processing flow
continues to logical block 724 where the cloned request is issued
to a target site. Processing flow continues to logical block 728
where a test may determine if there is verifiable predetermined
information in the response to the request. If the outcome of the
test is positive, processing flow may continue to logical block 730
where the original request may be blocked and the target site is
cached as a proxy site 722, after which processing flow terminates.
If the outcome of the test is negative, processing flow may
continue to logical block 710 where the original request may be
allowed to proceed normally after which processing terminates.
[0156] Referring to FIG. 9, a method for detecting uncategorized
web-based proxy sites may be embodied in a computer program product
embodied in a computer readable medium. When the computer program
product executes on one or more computers, it may perform the steps
of: identifying a suspected proxy site 902, wherein the suspected
proxy site is suspected of being adapted to anonymize internet
behavior, intercepting a form submission intended to be submitted
to the suspected proxy site 904, submitting a probe, in place of
the intercepted form submission, to the suspected proxy site 908,
wherein the probe is adapted to instruct a proxy site to direct
communications to a known probe site adapted to return
predetermined information as verification of interaction with the
probe site, analyzing a response to the submission of the probe for
the presence of the predetermined information 910, and upon
detection of the presence of the predetermined information in the
analysis, categorizing the suspected proxy site as a proxy site
that is adapted to anonymize internet behavior 912. The step of
identifying the suspected proxy site may involve identifying the
suspected proxy site through a client browser. The step of
identifying the suspected proxy site may involve identifying the
suspected proxy site through a client proxy. The step of
identifying the suspected proxy site may involve identifying the
suspected proxy site at a proxy server. The step of intercepting
further comprises holding the form submission in abeyance until a
confirmation is received that the suspected proxy site is either
not a proxy site or is a proxy site. The probe may be a probe URL
that identifies the probe site. The probe may be a probe IP address
that identifies the probe site. The probe site may be a statically
identified site. The probe site may be a dynamically changing site
and the probe is generated to remain adapted to identify the
dynamically changing site. The probe site may be an anonymized site
adapted to conceal its identity from proxy sites. The predetermined
information may be a predetermined hash value. The predetermined
information may be predetermined information that is designed to
uniquely identify the probe site. The predetermined information may
be a URL relating to the probe site. The predetermined information
may be an IP address relating to the probe site. The computer
program product may further perform the step of blacklisting the
proxy site in response to the categorization. The computer program
product may further perform the step of performing a remedial
action in response to the categorization. The computer program
product may further perform the step of tracking a user's behaviors
in response to the categorization.
[0157] Referring to FIG. 10, a method for detecting uncategorized
web-based proxy sites and translator sites may be embodied in a
computer program product embodied in a computer readable medium.
When the computer program product executes on one or more
computers, it may perform the steps of: identifying a suspected
proxy site wherein the suspected proxy site is suspected of being
adapted to anonymize internet behavior, intercepting a form
submission intended to be submitted to the suspected proxy site,
submitting a probe, in place of the intercepted form submission, to
the suspected proxy site, wherein the probe is adapted to instruct
a proxy site to direct communications to a known probe site adapted
to return predetermined information as verification of interaction
with the probe site, the probe further comprising a text string,
analyzing a response to the submission of the probe for the
presence of the predetermined information and the text string, and
upon detection of the presence of the predetermined information and
an altered text string, wherein the altered text string is a
representation of the text string that has been altered through a
translation engine, categorizing the suspected proxy site as a
translation proxy site. The predetermined information may be
predetermined information that is designed to uniquely identify the
probe site. The probe site may be an anonymized site adapted to
conceal its identity from proxy sites.
[0158] Once a website is categorized as a proxy site, any of the
remedial actions described herein elsewhere may be deployed. Some
of the remedial actions may be designed to protect the client that
provided the form submission in the first place (e.g. running a
scan on any drives of the client). Other remedial actions may be
intended to protect other clients, endpoints, or network devices
and enforce the corporate policy (e.g. updating a centrally managed
threat management facility with the new proxy site information such
that blacklists updated and enforced).
[0159] The present disclosure of inventions describes several proxy
detection techniques. In embodiments, any one or more of the
described proxy detection techniques may be used. In addition, two
or more of them may be used in a process of categorizing a proxy
site or validating a site's categorization as a proxy site.
[0160] Embodiments of the present invention may apply virus
detection techniques to identify websites; apply "fuzzy" document
fingerprinting techniques to identify web content; and compare the
result of the foregoing with an associated URL to make a
determination about the validity of the web content's origin.
Embodiments may be directed at detecting other abuses of known
websites. For example and without limitation, detection of phishing
attacks, cyber squatters, or typo squatters may be detected. A
variety of applications will be appreciated, and all such
applications are intended to fall within the scope of the present
disclosure.
[0161] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in
part or in whole through a machine that executes computer software,
program codes, and/or instructions on a processor. The processor
may be part of a server, client, network infrastructure, mobile
computing platform, stationary computing platform, or other
computing platform. A processor may be any kind of computational or
processing device capable of executing program instructions, codes,
binary instructions and the like. The processor may be or include a
signal processor, digital processor, embedded processor,
microprocessor or any variant such as a co-processor (math
co-processor, graphic co-processor, communication co-processor and
the like) and the like that may directly or indirectly facilitate
execution of program code or program instructions stored thereon.
In addition, the processor may enable execution of multiple
programs, threads, and codes. The threads may be executed
simultaneously to enhance the performance of the processor and to
facilitate simultaneous operations of the application. By way of
implementation, methods, program codes, program instructions and
the like described herein may be implemented in one or more thread.
The thread may spawn other threads that may have assigned
priorities associated with them; the processor may execute these
threads based on priority or any other order based on instructions
provided in the program code. The processor may include memory that
stores methods, codes, instructions and programs as described
herein and elsewhere. The processor may access a storage medium
through an interface that may store methods, codes, and
instructions as described herein and elsewhere. The storage medium
associated with the processor for storing methods, programs, codes,
program instructions or other type of instructions capable of being
executed by the computing or processing device may include but may
not be limited to one or more of a CD-ROM, DVD, memory, hard disk,
flash drive, RAM, ROM, cache and the like.
[0162] A processor may include one or more cores that may enhance
speed and performance of a multiprocessor. In embodiments, the
process may be a dual core processor, quad core processors, other
chip-level multiprocessor and the like that combine two or more
independent cores (called a die).
[0163] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in
part or in whole through a machine that executes computer software
on a server, client, firewall, gateway, hub, router, or other such
computer and/or networking hardware. The software program may be
associated with a server that may include a file server, print
server, domain server, internet server, intranet server and other
variants such as secondary server, host server, distributed server
and the like. The server may include one or more of memories,
processors, computer readable media, storage media, ports (physical
and virtual), communication devices, and interfaces capable of
accessing other servers, clients, machines, and devices through a
wired or a wireless medium, and the like. The methods, programs or
codes as described herein and elsewhere may be executed by the
server. In addition, other devices required for execution of
methods as described in this application may be considered as a
part of the infrastructure associated with the server.
[0164] The server may provide an interface to other devices
including, without limitation, clients, other servers, printers,
database servers, print servers, file servers, communication
servers, distributed servers and the like. Additionally, this
coupling and/or connection may facilitate remote execution of
program across the network. The networking of some or all of these
devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method
at one or more location without deviating from the scope of the
invention. In addition, any of the devices attached to the server
through an interface may include at least one storage medium
capable of storing methods, programs, code and/or instructions. A
central repository may provide program instructions to be executed
on different devices. In this implementation, the remote repository
may act as a storage medium for program code, instructions, and
programs.
[0165] The software program may be associated with a client that
may include a file client, print client, domain client, internet
client, intranet client and other variants such as secondary
client, host client, distributed client and the like. The client
may include one or more of memories, processors, computer readable
media, storage media, ports (physical and virtual), communication
devices, and interfaces capable of accessing other clients,
servers, machines, and devices through a wired or a wireless
medium, and the like. The methods, programs or codes as described
herein and elsewhere may be executed by the client. In addition,
other devices required for execution of methods as described in
this application may be considered as a part of the infrastructure
associated with the client.
[0166] The client may provide an interface to other devices
including, without limitation, servers, other clients, printers,
database servers, print servers, file servers, communication
servers, distributed servers and the like. Additionally, this
coupling and/or connection may facilitate remote execution of
program across the network. The networking of some or all of these
devices may facilitate parallel processing of a program or method
at one or more location without deviating from the scope of the
invention. In addition, any of the devices attached to the client
through an interface may include at least one storage medium
capable of storing methods, programs, applications, code and/or
instructions. A central repository may provide program instructions
to be executed on different devices. In this implementation, the
remote repository may act as a storage medium for program code,
instructions, and programs.
[0167] The methods and systems described herein may be deployed in
part or in whole through network infrastructures. The network
infrastructure may include elements such as computing devices,
servers, routers, hubs, firewalls, clients, personal computers,
communication devices, routing devices and other active and passive
devices, modules and/or components as known in the art. The
computing and/or non-computing device(s) associated with the
network infrastructure may include, apart from other components, a
storage medium such as flash memory, buffer, stack, RAM, ROM and
the like. The processes, methods, program codes, instructions
described herein and elsewhere may be executed by one or more of
the network infrastructural elements.
[0168] The methods, program codes, and instructions described
herein and elsewhere may be implemented on a cellular network
having multiple cells. The cellular network may either be frequency
division multiple access (FDMA) network or code division multiple
access (CDMA) network. The cellular network may include mobile
devices, cell sites, base stations, repeaters, antennas, towers,
and the like. The cell network may be a GSM, GPRS, 3G, EVDO, mesh,
or other networks types.
[0169] The methods, programs codes, and instructions described
herein and elsewhere may be implemented on or through mobile
devices. The mobile devices may include navigation devices, cell
phones, mobile phones, mobile personal digital assistants, laptops,
palmtops, netbooks, pagers, electronic books readers, music players
and the like. These devices may include, apart from other
components, a storage medium such as a flash memory, buffer, RAM,
ROM and one or more computing devices. The computing devices
associated with mobile devices may be enabled to execute program
codes, methods, and instructions stored thereon. Alternatively, the
mobile devices may be configured to execute instructions in
collaboration with other devices. The mobile devices may
communicate with base stations interfaced with servers and
configured to execute program codes. The mobile devices may
communicate on a peer to peer network, mesh network, or other
communications network. The program code may be stored on the
storage medium associated with the server and executed by a
computing device embedded within the server. The base station may
include a computing device and a storage medium. The storage device
may store program codes and instructions executed by the computing
devices associated with the base station.
[0170] The computer software, program codes, and/or instructions
may be stored and/or accessed on machine readable media that may
include: computer components, devices, and recording media that
retain digital data used for computing for some interval of time;
semiconductor storage known as random access memory (RAM); mass
storage typically for more permanent storage, such as optical
discs, forms of magnetic storage like hard disks, tapes, drums,
cards and other types; processor registers, cache memory, volatile
memory, non-volatile memory; optical storage such as CD, DVD;
removable media such as flash memory (e.g. USB sticks or keys),
floppy disks, magnetic tape, paper tape, punch cards, standalone
RAM disks, Zip drives, removable mass storage, off-line, and the
like; other computer memory such as dynamic memory, static memory,
read/write storage, mutable storage, read only, random access,
sequential access, location addressable, file addressable, content
addressable, network attached storage, storage area network, bar
codes, magnetic ink, and the like.
[0171] The methods and systems described herein may transform
physical and/or or intangible items from one state to another. The
methods and systems described herein may also transform data
representing physical and/or intangible items from one state to
another.
[0172] The elements described and depicted herein, including in
flow charts and block diagrams throughout the figures, imply
logical boundaries between the elements. However, according to
software or hardware engineering practices, the depicted elements
and the functions thereof may be implemented on machines through
computer executable media having a processor capable of executing
program instructions stored thereon as a monolithic software
structure, as standalone software modules, or as modules that
employ external routines, code, services, and so forth, or any
combination of these, and all such implementations may be within
the scope of the present disclosure. Examples of such machines may
include, but may not be limited to, personal digital assistants,
laptops, personal computers, mobile phones, other handheld
computing devices, medical equipment, wired or wireless
communication devices, transducers, chips, calculators, satellites,
tablet PCs, electronic books, gadgets, electronic devices, devices
having artificial intelligence, computing devices, networking
equipments, servers, routers and the like. Furthermore, the
elements depicted in the flow chart and block diagrams or any other
logical component may be implemented on a machine capable of
executing program instructions. Thus, while the foregoing drawings
and descriptions set forth functional aspects of the disclosed
systems, no particular arrangement of software for implementing
these functional aspects should be inferred from these descriptions
unless explicitly stated or otherwise clear from the context.
Similarly, it will be appreciated that the various steps identified
and described above may be varied, and that the order of steps may
be adapted to particular applications of the techniques disclosed
herein. All such variations and modifications are intended to fall
within the scope of this disclosure. As such, the depiction and/or
description of an order for various steps should not be understood
to require a particular order of execution for those steps, unless
required by a particular application, or explicitly stated or
otherwise clear from the context.
[0173] The methods and/or processes described above, and steps
thereof, may be realized in hardware, software or any combination
of hardware and software suitable for a particular application. The
hardware may include a general purpose computer and/or dedicated
computing device or specific computing device or particular aspect
or component of a specific computing device. The processes may be
realized in one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, embedded
microcontrollers, programmable digital signal processors or other
programmable device, along with internal and/or external memory.
The processes may also, or instead, be embodied in an application
specific integrated circuit, a programmable gate array,
programmable array logic, or any other device or combination of
devices that may be configured to process electronic signals. It
will further be appreciated that one or more of the processes may
be realized as a computer executable code capable of being executed
on a machine readable medium.
[0174] The computer executable code may be created using a
structured programming language such as C, an object oriented
programming language such as C++, or any other high-level or
low-level programming language (including assembly languages,
hardware description languages, and database programming languages
and technologies) that may be stored, compiled or interpreted to
run on one of the above devices, as well as heterogeneous
combinations of processors, processor architectures, or
combinations of different hardware and software, or any other
machine capable of executing program instructions.
[0175] Thus, in one aspect, each method described above and
combinations thereof may be embodied in computer executable code
that, when executing on one or more computing devices, performs the
steps thereof. In another aspect, the methods may be embodied in
systems that perform the steps thereof, and may be distributed
across devices in a number of ways, or all of the functionality may
be integrated into a dedicated, standalone device or other
hardware. In another aspect, the means for performing the steps
associated with the processes described above may include any of
the hardware and/or software described above. All such permutations
and combinations are intended to fall within the scope of the
present disclosure.
[0176] While the invention has been disclosed in connection with
the preferred embodiments shown and described in detail, various
modifications and improvements thereon will become readily apparent
to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the spirit and scope of
the present invention is not to be limited by the foregoing
examples, but is to be understood in the broadest sense allowable
by law.
[0177] All documents referenced herein are hereby incorporated by
reference.
* * * * *
References